Transonic’s 100-MPG Car May Hit Road Soon

One of my personally favorite automotive startups is hitting the road.

Transonic Combustion, which built a fuel-injection system that it says will let cars hit 100 miles per gallon, has created a car with its technology integrated and it has been testing it in the labs, says Mike Cheiky, founder and president. Later in the year, it hopes to take the car out and test it in real-world driving conditions.

Right now, the car is basically spinning its wheels on some rollers in Transonic’s labs. In those conditions, the car gets 100 miles per gallon when going the equivalent of 50 miles per hour. It can go from zero to 60 miles per hour in six seconds and has a top speed of 140 miles per hour.

The crew at Transonic has even hit 105 miles per gallon in the lab in one instance. The company is currently talking with three of the top six car companies in the world, including a very large Japanese automaker.

Transonic essentially is trying to combine the best of diesel and gas engines. It takes a high compression diesel engine and inserts its own injection system so that the engine can run on regular gas, which is far easier to get in the U.S. Gas can also result in lower particulates going into the atmosphere. Transonic’s demo car, for instance, emits 55 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer, he said.

While biofuel and electric car companies have dominated the headlines, there is also a strong market for clean car components. EcoMotors and Achates Power, for instance, are tinkering away on opposed piston/opposed cylinder diesel engines and shooting for the 100-MPG mark. The design of those engines is similar to the design of a plane engine Junkers (the plane maker to the Third Reich) created in the 1930s. Chip makers like Freescale are also targeting the efficient transportation market. It’s just easier to develop parts than a whole car. Even Tesla Motors says one of its best divisions right now is the one that sells components to third-party companies.

Look for all of these names during the Automotive X Prize, which will give away cash for anyone that can hit 100 miles per gallon with a “mainstream” car. Mainstream meaning that you just can’t load up a Winnebago with lithium-ion batteries and expect to win. It’s got to be something the average Joe the Plumber might want to drive someday.

Khosla Ventures and Venrock have invested in Transonic. Khosla also put money into EcoMotors.