Ethanol may add miles to the gallon
From Times Wire Reports
Injecting small quantities of ethanol into car engines at moments of peak demand -- such as accelerating sharply or climbing a steep hill -- could improve the fuel economy of gasoline engines by 20% to 30%, a scientist said.
A team of researchers at MIT is working on the system, which scientists say would allow carmakers to use smaller engines in their vehicles, reducing weight and improving fuel economy at a lower cost to consumers than by adding a hybrid engine. Daniel Cohn, senior research scientist at MIT, estimated Wednesday that adding the ethanol injection system to a car would cost about $1,000 and that cars using the new system could be in mass production by 2011.
