Engineers at California startup Transonic Combustion say they’ve found a way to more than double gas mileage—without a hybrid system. Their solution? Supercritical fluids.

The engineers at Transonic have developed a new fuel injection system that takes advantage of an in-between state of matter called supercritical fluid. Supercritical fluids straddle the line between liquid and gas. They can diffuse through a solid like a gas, yet dissolve substances like a liquid. And—this is key—they have very low surface tension. So when liquid gasoline goes supercritical, it doesn’t form droplets and can mix with air almost instantly. That means drastically improved combustion and efficiency.

The injection system, called TSCi, has a catalyst that breaks fuel into simple hydrocarbons. The fuel is then squeezed through a heated injector that puts the fuel in a supercritical state. This reduces the time it takes to vaporize the fuel, which means it can be burned earlier and in the center of the combustion chamber. The flame burns fast and clean, and doesn’t transfer as much heat to the cylinder walls.

Transonic has a 3,200-pound test car outfitted with its TSCi system running on a dyno at 50 miles per hour. It’s getting 98 miles per gallon. In highway testing, another one of their test cars gets 64 mpg. The system also dramatically decreases emissions.

The company wants to hook up with major auto manufacturers to get its system on the road by 2014.

Source: The Kneeslider, SAE

In case you missed it, the geniuses at Stanford have created super batteries using carbon nanotube ink and silver nanowires. They basically spread the carbon nanotube/silver goop on paper and it’s ready to store energy. The paper batteries are capable of storing 10 times as much energy by weight as lithium-ion batteries and are conceivably good for 40,000 charge-discharge cycles. From the Stanford article:

“These nanomaterials are special,” [assistant professor Yi] Cui said. “They’re a one-dimensional structure with very small diameters.” The small diameter helps the nanomaterial ink stick strongly to the fibrous paper, making the battery and supercapacitor very durable. The paper supercapacitor may last through 40,000 charge-discharge cycles – at least an order of magnitude more than lithium batteries. The nanomaterials also make ideal conductors because they move electricity along much more efficiently than ordinary conductors, Cui said.

Cui says that the thin, lightweight, flexible batteries could be used in everything from consumer electronics to cars. He also says the technology is basically ready for action. Just a few refinements and the batteries could go into production.

Link to Stanford article

Behold the Ferrari 599 Hybrid! Despite its wicked metallic green paint, it’s not all that environmentally friendly. The V-12 rocket ship reportedly uses a variation of Ferrari’s KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) setup used on F-1 cars. No, Gambit has nothing to do with it. The system captures energy from braking in the form of electricity. That energy can then be released with the push of a button, powering an electric motor for extra boost. The motor is mated directly to the transmission and delivers 100 horsepower. The whole hybrid system weighs about 220 pounds.

This spy shot was taken during setup at this year’s Geneva Auto Show. It appeared on Autoblog and a few other sites, but was pulled at Ferrari’s request. Because only seven people read this blog and I think the photo is damn pretty, I’m posting it anyway. Really, the 599 just looks luscious in that green, doesn’t it?

Link to Autoblog article.

Compared to this, even you look like a gas guzzler. Students at Cal Poly have built a super-streamlined ride that clocks a record 2,752.3 miles per gallon. They call it the Black Widow. The all-carbon-fiber three wheeler weighs a scant 95 pounds and is powered by a seriously tweaked 3-horsepower, four-stroke Honda 50cc single. Its coefficient of drag is an astounding .12. It uses 20-inch bicycle wheels, two in the front and one in the rear. Yeah, it tops out at just 30 miles per hour, but still, it’s an incredible feat.

Link to Inhabitat article

The bicycle is nearly perfect—an an efficient and beautiful expression of man and machine. Still, the geniuses at MIT have found a way to improve it. Meet the Copenhagen Wheel, a super-snazzy wheel with a kinetic-energy capture system and built-in electronics to monitor everything from distance to pedaling effort.

The heart of the Copenhagen wheel is a KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System). The system captures energy when you slow down, which can then be delivered on demand for a boost of speed. It uses an electric motor and batteries contained within the hub.

The Copenhagen wheel also beams information to the iPhone via Bluetooth, including speed, distance traveled, direction, and even air pollution.

The wheel will be on sale sometime in 2010. From MIT:

The initial prototypes of the Copenhagen Wheel were developed along with company Ducati Energia and the Italian Ministry of the Environment. It is expected that the wheel will go into production next year, with a tag price competitive with that of a standard electric bike. According to Claus Juhl, CEO of Copenhagen, the city might place the first order and use bicycles retrofitted with the Copenhagen Wheel as a substitution for city employee cars as part of the city’s goal to become the world’s first carbon-neutral capital by 2025.

It’s pretty slick. I’d definitely add one to my around-town cruiser, budget permitting.

Link to MIT article

Batteries are heavy and weight makes cars crappy. That’s why Volvo engineers are developing a special carbon fiber body panel that can hold a charge, saving weight and space at the same time. The panels could be used to replace some of the batteries in electric cars.

The material could be used in the fenders, hoods, trunk lids, and roofs of electric cars to reduce overall weight by about 15 percent. Eventually, says Volvo, the material could hold all the electricity an electric car could need.

Volvo engineers also say the material could be used in mobile electronics to extend run time or save weight.

Link to Autoblog article

Electric cars don’t spew C02, but they’re not exactly environmentally friendly. Their batteries wear out and could be dumped, leaking all kinds of nasty into the soil. So when Japanese company Eamex says they’ve developed a lithium-ion battery for cars that lasts 20 years, it’s a big deal.

Eamex say they’ve stabilized the electrodes that normally wear out in batteries. That makes their batteries good for 10,000 charge cycles. If true, it’s a huge breakthrough that will make electric cars even more environmentally friendly and cheaper to own for the long term.

Link to Gizmodo article

Link to CrunchGear article

Lotus is known for light, simple, and fast cars. But the company’s engineering division has created some of the most innovative automotive technology of the last century. Recently, it helped develop GM’s current superstar economy/performance Ecotec engine, and now it’s building a hyper-efficient, ultra-low-emissions engine codenamed “Omnivore.”

The Omnivore is a direct injection, variable compression, two-stroke engine designed to run on virtually any liquid fuel—gasoline, diesel, biodiesel, ethanol, alcohol, you name it. It uses a “puck” at the top of the combustion chamber to vary compression ratios all the way up to 40:1, or about four times the compression of a standard four-stroke engine. Those super-high compression ratios mean that the Omnivore can achieve combustion without a spark plug in a similar manner to diesel engines. In Omnivore, the air-fuel mixture is squeezed until it explodes. Combustion takes place throughout the mixture simultaneously, which makes for super-clean and efficient combustion. How much more efficient? So far Lotus has managed a 10 percent gain in efficiency (measured in fuel consumption) over current direct-injection four-stroke engines. That may not sound like a lot, but in the engineering world it’s huge. Plus, Lotus hopes to gain even more efficiency as time goes on.

The Omnivore is still in development stages, but Lotus hopes the technology can be refined and put into production in the next decade. Two-stroke engines have long since been banned from automotive duty due to heavy emissions, but with the Omnivore they might see a resurgence.

Link to Autoblog article

Link to Omnivore YouTube video

Chrysler once envisioned a future filled with turbine-powered automobiles capable of screaming down America’s highways at staggering speeds. They even built a few hundred road-ready prototypes. But neither Chrysler nor any other car company ever made turbine cruisers. Capstone MicroTurbine, however, wants to put the whirling engines back on the road in a big way.

The industrial turbine manufacturer has built a plugin turbine-electric supercar, called the CMT-380. The car is driven by powerful electric motors that get their juice from lithium-polymer batteries and a microturbine that spins a generator. The 30kW microturbine/generator is is usually used for power in industrial and military applications. In the CMT-380, it burns diesel or biodiesel and gives the car a 500-mile range. Plus, it’s ultra-low-emissions rated and burns cleaner than many modern gas-engined cars.

The car is no slouch either. Capstone say it’s capable of reaching 60mph in 3.9 seconds and can hit 150mph. It’s also pretty good looking. The CMT-380 is built on a slick Factory Five Racing GTM kit, which resembles a Ford GT40 crossed with a Jaguar XJ220.

The CTM-380 is meant to show what the Capstone microturbine can do in an automobile and may see limited production if it generates enough interest. It’s an interesting concept—turbines are a great choice for power generation in a hybrid because they’re efficient when they spin at a constant speed. They can also run on almost any liquid fuel that has a high enough octane.

Link to Gizmag article

Honda is set to reveal several electric scooter concepts at the Tokyo Motor Show this year, including the EV Cub. The Honda Cub is the most popular and prolific motorcycle ever made—more than 60 million have been sold worldwide. The EV Cub is a modern interpretation of the old design and it’s spiffy.