It seems every time we turn around there is another discussion going on about how to fuel cars in the future. The opening of that sort of debate usually includes a mention of how expensive and polluting gasoline is, which begs the question, "Why do we fuel our cars with that stuff?" There's actually a very good reason for it, and it's firmly grounded in science.
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People buy cars for different reasons today than they did just a decade ago. Gone are the days of 95-cent gallons of gasoline. The buzz words buyers use include "practical" and "fuel-efficient." For those who actually enjoy driving, there's something missing in this clinical, low-cost-of-ownership style of car shopping: the fun they want to have in their cars. Consumer Reports recently produced a list of the most fun cars to drive, and it included…
The American economy is in the worst shape most people have ever experienced. Instead of buying cars based on horsepower or size, many Americans are basing buying decisions on other factors related to cost of ownership. The most common of these may well be fuel expense. It's an easy item to notice because we fill our tanks so frequently.
Fuel expense rises and falls based on two factors. The first is the fuel economy of a vehicle. The second is the price of fuel. Drivers seek to control both, and the good news is, it's possible to manage both sides of the fuel expense coin.
You've seen them many times in your life: tire filling stations with endless loops of hose attached ending in that oddly-shaped, knobby little tip with the strange pin in the middle. They're at gas stations, car washes, and auto shops. If you're not familiar with their proper use and the proper fill pressure for your vehicle's tires you should take the time to learn. It will save you money on tires and gas. Here's what you need to know.
Proper tire pressure preserves the life of your tires. Under-inflating them causes them to ride soft, meaning they flatten too much, as if your vehicle rested upon marshmallows. Tire surfaces not intended to contact the road will do so, resulting in damage to the sidewall areas of the tire.
Over-inflating them makes tires too rigid. The overpressure strains the integrity of the tires and creates increased risk of a rupture. It also leaves less tire surface in contact with the road, resulting in decreased performance.
You may have heard that Nevada, with its wide open spaces, was adopting a driverless vehicle program, but now California state Senator Alex Padilla, a Democrat representing Pacoima, has introduced legislation requiring the Department of the California Highway Patrol to "adopt safety standards and performance requirements to ensure the safe operation and testing of autonomous vehicles… on the public roads."
If you're wondering whether autonomous vehicles are ready for California traffic, PCMag.com reported that Padilla arrived at the press conference to announce the bill in a modified Toyota Prius that drove at least part of the route without driver intervention. Furthermore, says the PC Mag report, cars modified to drive themselves with state of the art Google sensors, GPS, and computing power have already driven more than 200,000 miles on California roads.
Most drivers are familiar with the term horsepower as it applies to automobiles. More horsepower equals a more powerful engine. More specifically, a horsepower is defined as 550 foot-pounds per second which means the equivalent of the energy required to push 550 pounds over a distance of one foot in one second. That figure is equal to moving 1 pound 550 feet in one second, 225 pounds over two feet and any combination that works out to the same total.
In terms of your car, the horsepower is the total amount of power available to make the car go. Since the car's weight is constant, notwithstanding cargo and passengers, more horsepower allows it to cover more distance in fixed period of time. In other words, it'll go faster.
The Chevy Volt was the subject of congressional hearing Wednesday as a subcommittee of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee began hearings about the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's handling of the delayed crash-test battery fire experienced by one Chevy Volt during testing last year. At issue was whether General Motors received special treatment in the form of NHTSA silence about the test crash result, because 26% of GM stock is currently owned by the U.S. Government as a result of the bailout deal.
House committee members pressed GM and the NHTSA for some evidence that waiting until the single test result was confirmed as a real problem until it was publicly disclosed was somehow connected to White House secret White House intervention. General Motors Chairman and CEO Dan Akerson testified that GM had received no special treatment and "Although we loaded the Volt with state of the art safety features, we did not engineer it to become a political punching bag."
