Alcohol makes autos more climate-friendly - tech - 30 May 2009 - New Scientist

[dracodraconis]

Alcohol makes autos more climate-friendly - tech - 30 May 2009 - New Scientist

Ford Motor Company revealed that a gasoline engine can be made 23 percent more efficient by injecting ethanol into the fuel mixture when the engine needs more power, such as on hills. This increases the compression ratio and suppresses premature ignition ("knocking") that results in loss of engine power. A 40 litre auxiliary tank would provide enough ethanol to last 30,000 km. They are currently testing the approach on different vehicles and reports that the new engine would add between $1100(US) and $1500(US) to the cost of a vehicle.