No matter what you think of peak oil theory, global warming, or any other part of the environmental debate that people are prone to argue about, you’ve got to be feeling the crunch from oil prices that have pushed gas above $4 a gallon, and may well soon bring the U.S. in line with Europe’s stunning $8/gal.

Among the many effects that this is having is pushing people towards smaller, more fuel-efficient cars; truck and large SUV sales were down last quarter, and small cars were up 17%.  Engines can only shrink so far before a car is dead to consumers, however, high prices or not, and while we’re all compensating in our own way, like hypermilers taking turns at 60 miles an hour, the best solutions are yet to come. The engineers at the UK’s Controlled Power Technologies are a driving force behind this—every step up in power they figure out how to make, an engine can be reduced with no penalty.

CPT is developing a series of devices especially for the present generation of small cars and hybrids that boost the output without resorting to the age-old trick of tuners everywhere—removing the safety restrictions on how much fuel can be burned how fast.  This is allowing manufacturers to strip weight out of the car in it’s densest place, and increase fuel efficiency two ways at once—the smaller engine burns less by nature, but the removal of the weight also means it has to do less work.  Less fuel is consumed, less CO2 is produced, and everybody wins but the oil barons.

Awesome!  So What Is This Technology?

The magic widget that we’re all going to want in our car come 2010 is called a Variable Torque Enhancement System (VTES).  The logic behind it is this: most of the wasted fuel and emissions come from driving in urban environments, and that’s where drivers are more likely to need power on demand — accelerating out of stoplights, cutting off old ladies, and crossing five lanes of traffic during rush hour.

This doesn’t require raw power so much as it does power when you need it, a major issue for smaller engines.  The VTES, then, functions like an electrically powered supercharger, improving low-speed torque, and functioning off of existing 12-volt wiring.  Only it works best at extremely low speeds — like lurching forward from a stoplight.  The way it works is by maintaining the pressure in the cylinders over the first several cycles of the engine, a time when the vehicle is normally burning a fuel-to-air ratio that’s far out of proportion with what’s most efficient. Improve the ability of the car to accelerate out of a standing start, and it won’t need as much raw power — 30% less, as matter of fact — and we can all travel in a far cheaper, greener world.

More Reading:

CPT promotes electric superchargers for small engines (Auto Industry)
Low cost technical solution to soaring fuel prices? (TotallyMotor.co.uk)