Mercedes-Benz BlueZero Trio

At the 2009 Frankfurt Auto Show Mercedes-Benz is presenting a trio of Concept BlueZero models which do not use gasoline at all. The cars are absolutely different from any other vehicles in the world.

The manufacturer offers three variants of BlueZero model: all of them have same front-wheel-drive, rear-engine platform and similar body style; but they have different drive systems built around the compact electric motor.

E-Cell is a basic model which does not have a gas engine and operates on electric power only. E-Cell Plus adds a small extended-range gas motor. The third model is F-Cell with hydrogen fuel cell.

The small turbocharged 1.0-liter gas motor in E-Cell Plus is not going to move the car; it is aimed to generate additional electricity which goes to the auto’s lithium-electric batteries. This is a really important investment, because BlueZero runs up to 62 miles on batteries, but thanks to the gas engine the running range extends to 375 miles.

It takes six hours to recharge the battery pack completely from a standard household outlet. A quick-charging station can do it for less than an hour.

F-Cell is an incredible idea and it seems to work perfectly. Mercedes-Benz is going to launch the production version of the model in the end of this year. Around 200 cars will be made and sold for customers in the U.S. and Europe.

The Fuel Economy of Fisker Karma

Fisker has finished the testing and ran a public debut of Karma at the Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, California in the end of August. Now the hybrid is going to the 2009 Frankfurt Auto Show for an official big presentation.

Karma runs on two electric motors which output 403 horsepower and 959 pound-feet of torque. It is safe to drive up to 50 miles on electric power alone. If the charge is out the four-cylinder gasoline engine with 260 hp turns on to run the car and recharge the 200-kilowatt lithium-ion batteries.

According to the standards set by the Society of Automotive Engineers or SAE Karma uses 67.2 mpg and emits 83 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer. The CEO, Henrik Fisker said that cars of this category cannot be judged by EPA standards because their fuel economy will show more than 100 mpg. This would really be a fulfillment of American government’s dream: sales of 15,000 Karmas a year could save 248 million gallons of gasoline and 2.5 million tons of CO2 emissions.

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Ford Focus

EPA city/highway mileage: 24/35 (manual), 24/33 (automatic)

Though most of the cars on this list are imports, that doesn't mean the domestics don't built fuel-efficient cars -- though it's no coincidence that the fuel-efficient Focus was largely designed by Ford's European division. The Focus' fuel economy trails a bit compared to Japanese compacts, but it's cheap to buy, brimming with personality and enjoyable to drive.