CARS - General Motors has made a deal with the Chinese company SAIC to develop and design small fuel-efficient engines and transmissions with the goals of creating a mass production small car in China's ever expanding market.
Their goal is the development of a 1.0 litre to 1.5 litre direct-injection turbocharged gas engine. Its a smaller engine, but its designed to pack a wallop of power and torque.
China is the world's biggest auto market by the number of vehicles sold. American automakers are looking to break into the market but are hampered by China's rules that all companies operating within China must have a Chinese partner which owns 50%. Nevertheless China also offers tax cuts and subsidies which makes it worthwhile.
Highly dependent on oil from Middle East countries like Iraq, China is trying to reduce its dependence on foreign oil.
General Motors is also developing a front-wheel drive transmission which they hope will have 10% greater efficiency than an automatic transmission.
Ford meanwhile is also developing a small direct-injection turbocharged engine named "EcoBoost" which has 20% greater fuel efficiency.
Having these more efficient engines and transmissions will be compounded in cars which are smaller and/or more lightweight. ie. If the par efficiency is 100 units then reducing the weight by 30% will increase efficiency to 70 units, but if the engines/transmission are also 20% more efficient that reduces it to 56 units. The end result is a car which is almost twice as efficient when it comes to fuel.
The only lasting question then is how practical it is for transportation of you, your family and anything you are carrying.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Featured Posts
|
The Sarcasm Symbol
Ever had some confusion online or with your cellphone when someone fails to catch the sarcasm? Well now with the SarcMark you can ge... |
|
Behold, the Scorpion Hydrogen Supercar
CARS - To the right is the future of supercars... it is a hydrogen supercar called the Scorpion. The Scorpion from Ronn Motors in Texas is t... |
|
Documents show Stephen Harper misusing public funds
CANADA - According to 950+ pages of documents obtained by the Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act the Privy Coun... |
|
Pink's Rosie the Riveter
ENTERTAINMENT - What I like about this video is how it meshes different social movements like feminism, veganism, anti-capitalism... |
|
California's Dustbowl
ENVIRONMENT - The photo on the right is a farm in California that has been put up for sale. Its just one of thousands of farms that are n... |
|
Is Steampunk the New Goth???
GOTHIC - Watch out what you see on the subway late at night because while in 2001 you might have seen some pretty freakish goths, by 20... |
|
Do you have enough Ice Water in your diet?
HEALTH - A Calorie (large C) is a measurement of the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of a litre of water (1 kg's worth) ... |
|
North Korean timeline towards Inevitable War
POLITICS - The following is timeline of events that have occurred on the Korean Peninsula. 1945 - Japan surrenders to the United States a... |
|
Judgment Day is Tomorrow, so sayeth Cult
RELIGION - According to a cult based in California, Judgement Day is tomorrow (May 21st 2011) and Jesus Christ will return to the Earth a... |
|
Sex in Space Forbidden
SEX/TECHNOLOGY - Sex in outer space is a big no-no according to NASA. Not for professional astronauts at least, but the growing numb... |
Popular Posts / Last 30 Days
-
When was the last time you read a poetry book? If you enjoy poetry by Canadian poets do check out Gail M. Murray 's book: Reflections &a... -
CANADA - I am henceforth boycotting Yak Canada and encouraging other people to do the same. A telemarketer from Yak Canada called me on my... -
CANADA - The following is a list of 10 reasons why Torontonians are considered the rudest city in Canada. The sad part is Toronto may deser... -
CARS - Nobody ever steals a pink car. According to a Dutch study which compared the colour of cars being stolen, pink is the safest colour ... -
By Charles Moffat - September 2010. ENTERTAINMENT - Vanilla Coke was first introduced in 2002 and despite widespread popularity and being ... -
CANADA - Even advocates of scrapping the Long Gun Registry are rethinking your convictions now that the RCMP have released a report showing...
-
ENVIRONMENT - Air travel in Europe has practically ground to an halt as ash and chemicals from an erupting volcano in Iceland makes air tra... -
By Charles Moffat - October 2010. CANADA - If you are looking to buy a home in Toronto, or even Brampton or Mississauga then the prices of... -
FASHION - Imagine working in a spa as an aesthetician and having a mother phone to order a bikini wax... for her 10 year old daughter. No... -
CANADA - Gasoline prices reached a record high today in Canada and according to tomorrowsgaspricetoday.com the average price of gas in the...
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments containing links will be marked as spam and not approved. We moderate every comment. If you want to advertise on this blog it is $30 per link.