With the rising market prices of oil getting higher and higher it really is a good idea to start cutting the costs you spend for gas. There are a number of ways to do this but what will be discussed here is your car’s aerodynamics. Aerodynamic cars achieve better mileage and efficiency, so optimizing your car to be aerodynamic means saving gas money in the long run.
It is said that for highway driving conditions about 15%-20% of the total energy required to push you car along the highway is used up by the driveline. If you don’t know what a driveline is then it’s time you know that it is the drive shaft; it transmits rotational power from the transmission to the differential. Moving on, it is said that about 25%-30% of the same energy used to move your car down a highway is wasted by tire rolling resistance. It’s also said that 60% of that same energy is wasted by air drag. This means that the friction produced by your car as it hits air slows it down, causing your car to use up more fuel in order to maintain your speed. However, aerodynamic cars don’t have a problem with air drag along its hull; this means that these cars can save more fuel.
Optimizing the aerodynamic of your car is not rocket science. However, there are some aspects of this science that are applied to the way rockets are designed. Even the U.S military, air force, and navy are inventing ways and designing tanks, planes, and ships to become more aerodynamic, because they too recognize the potential efficiency that aerodynamics can achieve. It is only natural that the automobile industry will also soon catch up with its own aerodynamic cars. Even today, cars are getting smaller and sleeker. It is part of their design to reduce the air drag. Almost every part of the car is designed to be as efficient as possible.
To those of you who feel that it is not yet time to trade up your old car for one of those new aerodynamic cars, here are some ways to optimize you car for better efficiency and mileage. One good way to reduce air drag is by lowering the car. Lowering your car reduces the effective frontal area. This means that as your car passes through air it will be like a warm knife cutting through butter instead of a chopstick cutting through butter. However, caution has to be kept in mind as this can work only to a certain point and it is not safe to have a very low car. Another way to improve efficiency is by cleaning up the front of the car. This means that to have a smoother front can greatly improve your car’s aerodynamics and grant better efficiency. There are a lot of other ways to improve your cars aerodynamics but these two are the easiest and cheapest to do.
