Fuel efficiency

When Gibson introduced the Flying V electric guitar in 1958, it divided opinion. A bold new aviation concept out of TU Delft is sure to do the same. Wearing the same moniker as Gibson's iconic instrument, the design is aimed at improving aircraft efficiency and sustainability.

British company Camcon Automotive has built a fully digital engine valve system, uncoupled from the crank, that offers unprecedented control over the combustion cycle. It enables some weird and wonderful ideas we've never seen before, such as giving 4-stroke engines brief 2-stroke power boosts​.

Shell Lubricants has teamed up with Connecticut-based AirFlow Truck Company on "the Starship," a concept big rig fitted with various fuel-saving technologies that is being sent from sea to shining sea on a road trip to test its performance.

With fuel accounting for a significant proportion of truck running costs these days, the quest for fuel efficiency has been attracting increasing attention.​ XStream Trucking's approach is to literally close the gap between the cab and the trailer at highway speeds.​

Researchers in Sweden are developing a device that increases the fuel efficiency of trucks by cloaking them in electric wind. Using plasma actuators to charge the air, the new technology controls the flow of wind around the truck to reduce drag and could improve fuel consumption by five percent.

A 2017 Kia Niro EX has set a new Guinness World Record for the fuel efficiency of a hybrid car being driven from coast-to-coast in the US. The crossover completed the 3,715-mile journey with a consumption of 76.6 mpg.

Forget variable length intakes and variable valve timing, Infiniti is going all the way and introducing variable cylinder compression ratios. The new VC-T turbo engine automatically adjusts between a high-powered 8:1 and a hugely efficient 14:1 ratio as you drive.

Yamaha has introduced a fuel-saving stop/start system on its new Janus scooter, a 125cc, slightly retro scoot weighing 97 kg and targeted at female riders in the Vietnamese market, where a massive 2.85 million motorcycles and scoots are sold per year.

Having previewed the competing teams and tried out one of the cars ourselves in the run-up to the event, we're now able to reveal the results of the 2016 Shell Eco-marathon Europe, which was held in London over the weekend. The overall winning team was French team Microjoule-La Joliverie.

Having covered the Shell Eco-marathon so many times over the years and with the teams gearing up for this year's competition, we thought it was about time we tried our hand at driving one of the cars ourselves. Suffice to say, we won't be winning any efficiency awards anytime soon.

Rather than using a traditional camshaft to control an engine's valves, Qoros' QamFree motor uses electro-hydraulic-pneumatic actuators​ to provide precise control over each valve for more power and a 12 to 17 percent improvement in fuel economy.

Shell is perhaps best known for producing what goes into cars, rather than cars themselves. Now, the firm has taken the wraps off a car that it says will use a third less energy in its lifetime than a typical city car and around half the energy to build and run than a typical small family car.