Transonic Combustion has put its new fuel-injection technology into a test car, with weight and aerodynamics similar to a Toyota Prius, and the test car got 64 miles per gallon in highway driving — far more than a Prius, which gets 48 miler per gallon on the highway:
The key is heating and pressurizing gasoline before injecting it into the combustion chamber, says Mike Rocke, Transonic’s vice president of business development. This puts it into a supercritical state that allows for very fast and clean combustion, which in turn decreases the amount of fuel needed to propel a vehicle. The company also treats the gasoline with a catalyst that “activates” it, partially oxidizing it to enhance combustion.
We used to add a catalyst to gasoline, a few decades ago: lead.
The fuel-injection system also reduces throttling losses:
Ordinarily, the air intake to an engine is partially closed during cruising, and this makes the engine work harder. Transonic’s system can operate with the air intake open, creating a lean mixture in the combustion chamber (with a lot of air, but just a little gasoline). Rocke says that at a steady cruising speed of 50 miles per hour, the test car gets 98 miles per gallon.