Politicians battling each another in the current Presidential run-up prove once again that we can be a nation of heroes and villains. Today’s hero–Democrat or Republican–can end up as tomorrow’s goat.
It hasn’t been much different as we look for whatever will propel our vehicles in the future. Electric cars, hydrogen, CNG, etc., are getting their moments in the sun. And the internal combustion engine (A.K.A. ICE), our one-time hero – has been cast as the villain.
Not anymore.
Morgan Stanley Research recently projected that market penetration by electric vehicles through 2025 will be 4.5 percent, down from 8.6 percent. They site disappointing sales of new electric vehicles and lower fuel prices, though topping the list is the rapid commercialization of advanced internal combustion engine technology.
The best example of this is Mazda’s SkyActiv technology. See the 2012 Mazda3 First Drive by Dennis Simanaitis, where he nicely explains the technology behind these impressive new engines.
Now, a personal example. One of the more enjoyable things I do most months is photograph Jay Leno for our fellow Hearst publication, Popular Mechanics magazine. Recently I made the drive to his Big Dog Garage in a Mazda3 with SkyActiv. Traffic was light into Los Angeles and I got a 43-mile basically flat run in top gear. Average speed was 63 mph, a/c was off and the mileage? How about 44 mpg? That’s 5 mpg better than Mazda’s EPA estimate. Back home, in mixed city/highway driving and not trying to stretch mileage, we got 29.5 mpg.
If the Mazda was a gear-dog, using tall ratios to fake the mileage we’d scoff. But it’s not, Dennis pointing out the new direct-injected 2.0 four is 15 percent more powerful.
He also tells us one secret is the car’s 12.0:1 compression ratio, lifted to 14:1 in Europe. That is roughly the same ratio as Mazda’s new diesel engine, meaning the gas and diesel engines can be built on the same production line. Then we recall Mercedes-Benz engineers talking of future duel-fuel, gasoline-diesel engines. Variable compression ratios. And you know they aren’t the only automakers on the move with ICE.
.
Related posts:
No comments:
Post a Comment