Soaring gas price makes drivers feel the pinch. Meanwhile, it has changed the way people drive and shop. Some customers shop gas-sipping smaller cars or hybrid vehicles to get rid of their old, fuel-consuming SUVs. Other alternatives include car-pooling, public transportation, bicycling, even walking. Drivers reduce the frequency of using their cars and make proper tire pressure and proper alignment will improve gas mileage. Once they have to hit the road, they drive slower than they were to save fuel. It is very difficult to change driving behavior, but the high price of gasoline has done that. As slowing down saves fuel, so does staying home. Now people travel less. Gasoline prices are affecting every aspect of the economy. Many titan automakers continue to lay off their workers since consumers are no longer buying the big gas guzzlers they had been producing. High gas and raw material prices also motivate automobile participants to innovate. For instance, they create more reliable electric and fuel-cell-powered cars, fuel-efficient cars and particularly the midsize "crossover" SUVs that are lighter and get better gas mileage.
Consumers are nervous about the change in climate as well as in slow economy. As the worries over ¡§global warming¡¨ rise to a level as never before, the needs to minimize greenhouse gas emissions for cleaner air are urgent. The large uses of alternative fuel autos (AFAs) have worsened global grain shortage and economy inflation. The more bio-fuels such as ethanol and bio-diesel, are used, the more corns, more soybean and more sugarcane are consumed not as foods, which lasts to fuel the price hikes of grains and meats. A study released by Princeton University and the Nature Conservancy reveals that ethanol and other biofuels are not silver bullets in the battle against the menace of global warming but make it worse. To cope with global warming, automakers are developing innovative emission reduction technologies to elevate fuel economy, launching plug-in hybrids and providing solutions to reduce gas emissions.

New Refrigerant System Improves Energy Efficiency
Industry-first refrigeration cycle system for passenger vehicles makes use of an ejector, for both an air conditioner and cooler box. The ejector system used to largely improve the energy efficiency in the refrigeration cycle, and now is designed specifically for automotive air conditioning systems. In a traditional refrigeration cycle, a solenoid valve switches between refrigerant flow for cooling in the air conditioner and refrigeration in the cooler box, working on air conditioning performance as the cooler box is used. The new device abandons the solenoid valve and uses a small refrigerant injector called an ejector instead of an expansion valve, enabling cooling via the car air conditioner and refrigeration through the cooler box at the same time. By applying an ejector that efficiently injects and expands high-pressure refrigerant, the energy that previously was lost in the expansion valve is converted to pressure energy and reused, therefore improving energy efficiency and achieving high cooling and refrigeration performances synchronously.

Smart Materials for Fuel Economy
¡§Smart¡¨ materials such as shape-memory alloys and polymers are integrated into vehicles to change their shape and strength as exposed to heat, stress, magnetism or electrical voltage. The materials emerged to be applied in movable vehicle features including movable air dams, louvers, interior grab handles, latches, car frames, thermo-magnetic motors, electrical generators that use the mechanical energy resulting from shape transformation and SMA springs for use in engine cooling, carburetor and engine lubrication controls. These new materials are expected eventually to lead to vehicle subsystems that can self-heal in the event of damage, or that can be designed to change color or appearance, enable some innovative designs, improved vehicle performance and fuel efficiency, together with new comfort and convenience features. Some actuators and sensors made from materials like NiTinol (a nickel-titanium alloy) and other shape-memory alloys and polymers can reduce vehicle mass, component size and complexity as they are used to replace conventional motorized or hydraulic devices.

Plug-in Hybrid Cars Lower Gas Emissions
By a study, the popularity of rechargeable "plug-in" hybrid-electric vehicles, or green cars will result in significant drop in greenhouse gas emissions by the middle of the century. The study expected that with a market share of about 60% or more plug-ins, the vehicles could help reduce about 450 million metric tons in greenhouse gas emissions a year by 2050. Such a reduction would be equal to removing 82 million passenger cars, or about one-third of the cars currently on road. Plug-in hybrids are regarded as a much-needed solution to the global warming crisis that we're confronting. Plug-in vehicles also help reduce pollutants and slightly improve air quality. However, the prevalence of green cars has some hurdles. First, green car drivers should recharge car batteries at home, which significantly eliminate the convenience that vehicles have to offer. And the durability of the batteries leaves a spacious room for improvement. Moreover, the development and sales of green vehicles require necessary subsidies and fiscal incentives from governments. In the United States and Europe, green cars enjoy not only fiscal incentives in the form of tax discounts, but also have some privileges such as being free of parking fees or allowed to pass along limited access roads at any time.

Vehicle Gas Saver, SGS System
Vehicle Gas Saver (VGS), throttle position sensor (TPS) and accelerator pedal sensor (APS) based electronic gas saving device, is developed by Energy Automotive Tek Inc., and has been installed in hundreds of thousands of vehicles in numerous countries. The road test shows that as the device is used, the fuel economy efficiency can increase 20% to 25% depending on independent driving habits. As connected to a car's accelerator pedal, the device depressions and adjusts fuel consumption to ensure that no fuel is wasted. By improving the efficiency of vehicles, it helps to minimize consumption of gasoline and reduce carbon emissions.