Better ICE, Internal Combustion Engine

In the long run, the internal combustion engine (ICE) are finished and now its the era of electric motor propulsion. ICEs have been around for so long time that we should be careful about announcing their demise. They're going to stick around a while longer, and so it's very important to make them better.

Lets look at 5 fuel-saving technologies that are keeping the ICE relevant. As they say, they still work on basically the same principle as they ever did, but old 4-cylinder engines produced about 20 horsepower while modern ones can generate up to 250 hp, while being cleaner and burning less gas.

Read on for more details on the 5 fuel-saving technologies:

Diesel:

Various advances such as the availability of ultra low sulfur diesel fuel, better catalysts and particulate matter traps, better control over combustion are making diesel engines cleaner, so you can expect a new wave of diesel passenger vehicles to come to the US in the next few years.
Diesel engines are certainly far from perfect, but they have inherently better thermal efficiency than gasoline engines, and they are usually more durable. Another benefit is that they can run on biodiesel, which if you can find fuel made from waste cooking oil or from algae can be very green.

Direct Injection
Before direct injection, the fuel was mixed with air in the car's intake manifold. Now, with direct injection, the fuel is mixed with air inside the cylinder, allowing for better control over the amount of fuel used, and variations depending on demand. This makes the engine more fuel efficient.

Cylinder Deactivation
The name says it all. ICEs with this feature can simply deactivate some cylinders when less power is required, temporarily reducing the total volume of the engine cylinders and so burning less fuel. This feature is found on V6 and V8 engines.

Turbochargers
Turbochargers increase the pressure inside cylinders, cramming more air and allowing combustion to generate more power. This doesn't make the engine more economical in itself, but since a smaller displacement engine can generate more peak power, you can more easily downsize and save there.

Variable Valve Timing and Lift
Valves open and close to allow air and fuel to enter cylinders and for the products of combustion to exit. Different valve timings produce different results (more power, better fuel economy). Traditionally, you couldn't vary that timing, so the choice had to be made once when the engine was designed. But many modern engines can vary valve timing, allowing for example the default low RPM range of the engine to have more economical timing, and the higher RPM range to go for max power. This allows a smaller displacement engine to produce more peak power, so it allows for downsizing and fuel savings.

One Big Problem With All of This
The problem is that most of the gains from these technological breakthroughs have been used to increase power instead of reducing fuel consumption. At best, fuel economy stayed the same while power increased. Now that environmental awareness is increasing, that global warming is on everybody's mind and that oil is very expensive, we can hope that car makers will end the horsepower arms race and finally use these technologies to truly make more efficient cars.

Electric car

Electric car is an automobile that is propelled by one or more electric motors, using electrical energy stored in rechargeable batteries or another energy storage device. Electric motors give electric cars instant torque, creatingsmooth acceleration. They are also around three times as efficient as compare to cars with an internal combustion engine.

The first electric cars were produced in the 1880s. Electric cars were popular in the late 19th century and early 20th century, until advances in internal combustion engines and mass production of cheaper gasoline vehicles led to a decline in the use of electric drive vehicles. Due to the energy crises, several national and local governments have established tax credits, subsidies, and other incentives to promote the introduction and adoption in the mass market of new electric vehicles depending on battery size and their all-electric range.

As of the 1970s and 1980s brought a short-lived interest in electric cars; although, those cars did not reach the mass marketing stage, as is the case in the 21st century. Since 2008, a renaissance in electric vehicle manufacturing has occurred due to advances in batteries and energy management, concerns about increasing oil prices, and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Electric cars are significantly quieter than conventional internal combustion engine automobiles. They also do not emit tailpipe pollutants, giving a large reduction of local air pollution, and, in many cases, a large reduction in total greenhouse gas and other emissions (dependent on the method used for electricity generation). They also provide for independence from foreign oil, which in several countries is cause for concern about vulnerability to oil price volatility and supply disruption. But widespread adoption of electric cars faces several hurdles and limitations, including their current higher purchase cost, patchy recharging infrastructure (other than home charging) and range anxiety (drivers' fear that electric energy stored in the batteries will run out before reaching their destination, due to limited range of most existing electric cars). Recharging can take a long time; however, for long distance driving, many cars support fast charging that can give around 80% charge in half an hour, using public fast chargers.

As of September 2015, there are over 30 models of highway legal all-electric passenger cars and utility vans available for retail sales, mainly in the United States, China, Japan, Western European countries. By mid-September 2015, about 620,000 light-duty electric vehicles have been sold worldwide out of total global sales of one million plug-in electric cars sold since 2008. The world's top selling highway-capable electric car is the Nissan Leaf, released in December 2010 and sold in 46 countries, with global sales of more than 192,000 units through September 2015, followed by the Tesla Model S, released in June 2012, with about 90,000 units sold by October 2015.

Courtesy Wikipedia, rights belong to respectful owners.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_car

Electric Cars

The most discussed topic regarding green cars is what type cars are available, it seems very few people knew about electric cars. Due to lot of reasons the availability and popularity of electric cars is low. They are quite expensive and not much reliable.


In the following, description of few electric cars is given:
 

2016 Mitsubishi i-MiEV
16 kWh battery, 62 miles (EPA), 112 MPGe, 49 kW motor
Mitsubishi's jellybean-style electric car has never been a strong seller. but the Japanese automaker recently slashed its pricing, making it the cheapest electric vehicle on the market. 



2015 Smart Fortwo Electric Drive 
17.6 kWh battery, 68 miles (EPA), 107 MPGe, 55 kW motor
Smart's Fortwo Electric Drive is one of the cheapest new electric cars on the market. You only get two seats, but you also get rid of the gasoline car's jerky transmission. There's enough power to make good progress now, and if you're able to benefit from incentives, the price starts to look quite tempting.


2015 Chevrolet Spark EV
18.4 kWh battery, 82 miles (EPA), 119 MPGe, 105 kW motor
Chevrolet has put the same effort into its diminutive Spark as it did the Volt, and has managed to improve the aerodynamics and interior to match the Spark's electric aspirations. With huge torque on offer, performance is strong and the Spark EV is good fun to drive.


 

2015 Nissan Leaf  
24 kWh battery, 84 miles (EPA), 114 MPGe, 80 kW motor
The Leaf is one of the better-known electric cars. While sales haven't matched Nissan's expectations and there have been issues with battery degradation in hot weather, the Leaf is still one of the most usable electric cars on the market.




 
2015 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid 
5.2 kWh battery, 11 miles (EPA blended), 6 miles (EPA all-EV), 95 MPGe, 60 kW motor (134-hp combined)
The Prius Plug-In is a little off the pace technologically these days, but its similarity to the regular, familiar hybrid means it's ideal for drivers trading up from a regular Prius.

 

2015 Fiat 500e
24 kWh battery, 87 miles (EPA), 116 MPGe, 83 kW motor
Fiat's 500e electric car may be a mere "compliance car", but the engineers have done a great job.



 
2015 Ford C-MAX Energi 
7.6 kWh battery, 20 miles (EPA), 88 MPGe, 88 kW motor (195-hp combined)
Ford's first plug-in hybrid challenger mixes good performance with impressive efficiency in electric mode. Like the Toyota Prius V, it's a practical vehicle too, ready to handle everything family life can throw at it.






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