User:Mimiselfani

Greetings all Wiki users and contributors.

Having just edited a wiki entry, I figured I should create a user page and invite discussion.

The article of interest was:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-rolling_resistance_tires

The second sentence of the body of the article stated:-

"Frictional losses can account for over 80% of the fuel energy consumed by a typical car."

Possibly the intention of the author of that sentence was to say that over 80% of the power developed by the engine of a typical car may be lost to overcome friction - but I don't know if that is true. But it seemed misleading to say that 80% of the fuel energy is lost to friction - most of the fuel energy (at least 70%) cannot be converted to mechanical work in a car engine due to thermodynamic limitations. Certainly there are frictional losses within the engine itself but they amount to only a few percent of the energy in the fuel.

Feel free to engage in further discussion on this topic.