Friction Causing Major Increase in Fuel Consumption

Jan 19 2012

When most of us sign up for a car finance package nowadays, we try to buy a vehicle that uses as little fuel as possible.  Many people would, therefore, find the following bit of information quite useful: according to new research at least 33% of a vehicle’s fuel consumption can be ascribed to friction.  Reducing friction will, therefore, go a long way to improving fuel economy.

The joint study was carried out by Argonne National Laboratory and VTT Technical Research Centre.  The findings suggest that it will be possible to reduce friction by up to 80% during the next five years, thereby reducing the fuel consumption of the average motor car by at least 18%.

The researchers also predict that further developments in the field of friction reduction would result in a 61% improvement in efficiency within the next 15 to 25 years.

According to the researchers, there are currently 612 million cars on the world’s roads.  The average driver covers a distance of about 13,000 km every year.  In the process he uses 340 litres of fuel simply to overcome friction, at a cost of more than €510 every year.

The report also says that 33% of fuel used in an ordinary internal combustion engine is spent in exhaust, 38% in mechanical energy (of which a large part is lost due to friction) and 29% in cooling.

An electric motor, on the other hand, has only 50% of the friction loss of an internal combustion engine.

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