Improve mileage 50 percent by heating up gas

Put on your tin foil hats everyone, it's conspiracy story time. One upon a time, a Washington Post reporter took a ride in a car that gets 50 percent better fuel economy by heating gas to 350 degrees. The system improves mileage by turning gas into a vapor which leads to better combustion. The reporter almost didn't go for the test drive because he reasoned if this were true why wouldn't car companies do this now?

We have written about systems like this before. Experimental versions even appears in the Saab Biopower concept. There is a car in the X-Prize that has this technology. Heck, anyone that ever warmed up a car in the morning or used ethanol in the cold probably re-invented this. It's not a new idea. So why don't car companies use this technology? The Post says it might be safety concerns of vaporizing gasoline.

I don't know. How is vaporizing gasoline any less safe than igniting it? The Post also says there are lesser versions of this technology in cars already. Maybe this is proof that there is a vast conspiracy of oil and car companies working together to keep fuel saving technologies off the market? I guess this conspiracy story ends with the oil companies living happily ever after in profit land :D

[Source: Washington Post]