Fuel Efficient Minivans made Possible with Natural Gas

By Adam Eisman – Contributing Writer
Posted on Friday 15th May 2009

A lot of cars are going electric these days, hoping to combine the ease of gasoline and its embedded infrastructure with the increased sustainability of an electric component that can be charged. However, Volkswagen has chosen to mix out the electric from that equation and try natural gas. This is the process by which the EcoFuel VW Touran came to be.

While natural gas isn’t exactly carbon neutral, it is much better than the alternative alone. It is cleaner than gasoline, and Natural gas is a resource that is quite abundant within the United States, so do not have to send money to other parts of the world.

The EcoFuel Touran can run on both gasoline and natural independently, meaning the driver will not have to worry about ranges and running out of fuel in the middle of a trip as the van will get 45 miles per gallon. The way they can squeeze 45 miles out of one gallon of gas is by using a relatively small engine of 1.4 liters. They then add direct fuel injection technology and a turbo-charger, which will improve acceleration times, and overall creates an engine that really maximizes its input.

At the moment, this vehicle is just wishful thinking, as there are no plans to market or sell the vehicle in North America. There has not bee a release date, or a suggested price for the final version of this vehicle, but a minivan that gets 45 miles per gallon would be very exciting indeed.

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