Yes, cutting the weight of a vehicle can save as much as 20% of its usual gas consumption. Lost among the various discussions on hybrids, electrics, going green and all other environmentally friendly vehicle manufacturing, the simplest physical truth lies – heavier a vehicle is, the harder and more fuel guzzling it is to move it. Despite all the hype about how the whole wold will drive hybrids in the future, it just won’t happen, simply because most people do need that SUV or pick-up they drive. Two recent studies conducted by Ricardo, the British design and consulting firm and Ibis, report fuel consumption can be reduced in varying percentages by followings several weight reduction strategies.

By keeping the same engine and reducing 10% of the vehicle weight, fuel consumption can be reduced as much as 3-4%, and if the engine is swapped for a slightly light weight version too, this figure can rise to 6-7%. Vehicle body weight reduction is mostly achieved by substituting metal body parts with their aluminum versions. The cost-effectiveness of these strategies also indicate cutting vehicle weight is the ideal way to ensure existing vehicles and new “green-friendly” cars achieve the necessary environmental balance.

After much hype, Nissan’s latest electric car hybrid is finally available for evaluation. Although it’s only expected to go into mass production in time to welcome 2010, it just seems to need very few tweaks here and there to be complete. Drawing in definite conclusions may be a little too bold right now, but the new NSANY looks good, feels good and drives good too. The NSANY is based on the Nissan Cube, a popular model in Japan. The NSANY will be Nissan’s first attempt at introducing hybrid vehicles to the world.

Lithium-ion battery technology will be used in these hybrids, providing significantly improved performance in comparison to the common-use nickel metal hydride batteries. The latest challenge facing Nissan is to start manufacturing emission-free and fuel efficient vehicles affordable to the masses, rather than create performance-engineered vehicles which guzzle fuel at incredible costs. Going green is no longer an option and it’s good to see that even multi-billion dollar industries are chipping in with their contributions to saving the environment.