This Technology Saves Gas by Shutting Down Your Car Engine at Stoplights. And ... - Slate Magazine
When you drive a manual-shift car after a long period of driving only automatics, stalling is part of the territory. But the last few times I’ve done so, while renting cars in Europe, it seems that virtually every time I stopped for a light, the engine shut down, only to chug back to life when I re-engaged the gears. But most were due to the vehicle’s “start-stop” feature—a quietly revolutionary step toward energy efficiency that is becoming standard in Europe, and may come soon to a new American car near you. ) But as readers of this column should know by now, affordable materials and incremental technological improvements can make environmental and economic sense right now—like Ford using lightweight aluminum instead of steel on its pickup trucks. We can start adding start-stop technology to the mix. Modern start-stop was pioneered by German automakers several years ago, and was generally limited to manual-shift vehicles. But it has become standard in, for example, all BMW 1 and 3 Series models that have manual transmissions and four-cylinder engines, as well as in many other vehicles that ply the Autobahn. Today, about 60 percent of the new cars sold in Europe each year have start-stop. Source: www.slate.com
