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American motorists are much more interested in technologies that provide enhanced fuel economy of existing gasoline driven engines at a lower initial cost than they are in higher priced alternate fueled engines, a Harris poll shows.

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Ford's EcoBoost engines such as the one shown here is a fine example of a conventional gasoline-fueled internal-combustion engine that's been improved for greater fuel efficiency. 
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One in five of the 12,225 American adults ages 18 on up and who own or lease a vehicle indicated they would be extremely or very likely to purchase a start stop system or an ECO drive assistant. Both systems provide an estimated 10 percent gain in fuel economy.


Barely one in six owners who participated in the April poll said they were extremely or very likely to purchase flexible-fuel engines or a clean diesel engine.


David Duganne of Harris said "consideration for clean-diesel engines has been consistent over the past several years of the study, while that of flexible fuel engines has decreased. With the current push of clean diesel by European automakers, we anticipate this will start to increase while consideration for flexible fuel will continue to decrease."


Even less interest exists for purchasing the newer, more costly and/or fully developed fuel-efficient engines. Only one out of 25 vehicle owners were extremely or very likely to consider purchasing fuel-cell engines (4 percent), hybrid-electric engines (4 percent), plug-in hybrids (4 percent) and pure electric engines (2 percent).


A comparative bright spot was a 10 percent level of consideration of compressed natural gas engines.


The interest in technology-driven approaches using traditional gas engines is growing. ECO drive assistant doubled its level of consideration from the 2009 study (19 percent in 2010, up from 11 percent in 2009).


While price is certainly a factor for adoption of these newer engine technologies, other barriers also exist. The price of the fuel (where applicable), the lack of an infrastructure for refueling or recharging, concerns about service and repair of the vehicles and in the case of the electric vehicles, how long the charge will last in respect to one's daily commute are all detrimental to consumer acceptance.

Tags: Alternative Fuels, Diesel, Emissions, Flex-Fuel, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Natural Gas, Plug-ins and Electric, Alternative-Fuel Vehicles, ECO Drive, Electric Car, Electric Vehicle, Emissions, Flexible-Fuel Vehicles, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Fuel Efficient

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American Motorists Prefer More Efficient ICE Vehicles to Alt-Fuel Vehicles - Survey was originally published by Green Car Advisor. Read the full story by clicking here.