The modern engine involves hundreds of parts and would surprise many people as to how inefficient it is. Have you ever wondered why your exhaust is so hot? Heat loss is energy loss. If your car shakes, that also is energy loss. The modern engine is anywhere from 15 to 20 percent efficient, or put in a more glass four-fifths empty mindset: 80 to 85 percent inefficient. Any time you add more parts to an engine, you are likely to be losing efficiency, and there is almost no way to get around this.
Between exhaust systems, noise and friction, you will find enough energy for your car to go about five times as far as it has gone so far. If that doesn’t sound very disappointing, then you probably aren’t understanding exactly what I’m saying and if that is the case, I suppose that is fine. There are parts that have been added to the modern engine that have helped to increase the engine’s efficiency of course, and one of these items is the injection pump. Injection pumps are the last stop before fuel gets lit on fire and if they do their job right, they will help more fuel get exploded.
Injection pumps today create great pressure in order to help break up the fuel into more explodable increments. In fact, injection pumps today will produce 15,000 pounds per square inch. While I initially had a hard time understanding just what 15,000 psi equated to, I learned pretty quick through a simple example. Fuel moving at 15,000 psi is strong enough that if it hits you will cut through your clothing and then it will break right on through your skin. This basically means that injection pumps can not only inject fuel into a cylinder very effectively, they can inject fuel right into your arm very effectively. In case you haven’t thought of the implications yet, this can result in your arm being amputated, so don’t mess around when working with injection pumps.
The modern injection pump has been a part of the diesel engine (and some gasoline engines) for years but is actually today being phased out for a more efficient method. The truth is that companies are increasing efficiencies all the time but mostly in small increments. While we have put a good deal of effort into improving the engine companies have today started putting more energy into improving the efficiency of the vehicles in other ways. Take the new Ford Focus, it can get 40 mpg on the highway and that is with no alternative energy source — so no hybrid. Not to go on a tangent, but saying your hybrid gets 40 mpg is somewhat ridiculous because your hybrid isn’t only running on gas. It also is consuming electricity and because mpg doesn’t account for that energy cost a hybrid doing 40 mpg doesn’t tell the whole story.
It’s like a guy saying, “I got to NYC from LA in 500 steps” when he actually rode a plane for 5 hours, it’s deceptive. Anyways, back to the Ford Focus, it has active aerodynamics to help it get better mpg. The front grill which normally is open when the car is going below a certain speed closes at highway speeds to increase it’s efficiency. It’s tire wells and tires are also designed to help it slide through the air with less energy. So while our modern engines are still grossly inefficient, there are many things that can be done to help our vehicles be more efficient overall. Oh, and don’t worry, there are people trying to develop new engines all the time and who knows, maybe in 10 years you’ll be driving a car 80% efficient. You can always hope!