The best fuel mileage car in the world is called the Pac-Car. It is not
a production vehicle but an experimental car designed and built by the Swiss
Federal Institute of Technology to take part in the Shell Eco-Marathon competition.
The Pac-Car won the event and currently holds the holds the Guinness World
Record as the car with the
best fuel mileage. The Pac-Car
traveled an unbelievable 5385 km for the equivalent of 1 litre of gas. This
equates to 0.0186 litres/100km, or 12,646 miles per gallon and means the
Pac-Car would use about 8 litres of fuel to drive around the world.
The Pac-Car cannot not be used as a normal car - it is tiny, has space for
one very small person, and only weighs 30kg. Its powered by two 18V 150W
electric motors, with the electricity coming from a fuel cell converting
hydrogen into electricity. As well as having amazing fuel efficiency the
car also has zero emissions - pure water is produced as a by-product.
The Pac-Car is constructed from carbon fibre to give its very low weight.
Its also very aerodynamic with a drag coefficient of just 0.075. By way
of comparison the Ford Escape has a drag coefficient of 0.4 and the streamlined
Prius records a 0.29.
The Shell Eco-Marathon competition was held on June 26, 2005, in Ladoux,
France. The Pac-Car covered 20.6 km, using just 1 g of Hydrogen and traveled
at an average speed of 18.6 mph. Fuel cells may be an ideal power source
in the future to provide high fuel mileage and low or no emissions. At the
moment they're too expensive, have too short a lifespan, and are too fragile
to be used, but research and improvements are being made all the time.