07-22-2008, 12:30 PM
My point is that even if it is proven say in the future to produce somewhat better mileage, it is not proven to do so today. It is still valid to reject the technology as not worth installing on your car because if it is that hard to get repeatable, verifiable results today, those results can't be very significant.
If proponents were claiming that this technology got 2% better mileage I might be content to play along. Instead, 20% to 40% is being claimed while the actual results are so varied (and apparently small) that they are probably due to properly inflating your tires or driving with a tailwind. The difference between what is claimed versus what is realized is what is bull. I don't care whether it works a little bit or not at all. There appears to be no evidence that it works as claimed. If someone is lying to you or is simply passing on a falsehood through lack of ability to distinguish falsehood from truth you should judge them accordingly and it shouldn't matter whether they are sorta wrong vs fair to middlin' wrong.
The current design of internal combustion engines is a compromise. There is a theoretical limit to how efficient an engine can be that can never be realized in practice because of non-ideal conditions. The closer you try to come to that theoretical efficiency the more complicated and expensive the engine becomes. If your goal is only a 1% improvement in efficiency then you can get that without resorting to exotic technology, but it probably will cost more than the extra gas would.
If proponents were claiming that this technology got 2% better mileage I might be content to play along. Instead, 20% to 40% is being claimed while the actual results are so varied (and apparently small) that they are probably due to properly inflating your tires or driving with a tailwind. The difference between what is claimed versus what is realized is what is bull. I don't care whether it works a little bit or not at all. There appears to be no evidence that it works as claimed. If someone is lying to you or is simply passing on a falsehood through lack of ability to distinguish falsehood from truth you should judge them accordingly and it shouldn't matter whether they are sorta wrong vs fair to middlin' wrong.
The current design of internal combustion engines is a compromise. There is a theoretical limit to how efficient an engine can be that can never be realized in practice because of non-ideal conditions. The closer you try to come to that theoretical efficiency the more complicated and expensive the engine becomes. If your goal is only a 1% improvement in efficiency then you can get that without resorting to exotic technology, but it probably will cost more than the extra gas would.