Not all fuel pumps are created equal

By CARSIFU | 17 August 2018


Black Mamba is arguably the 'Mother' of all pumps.


DETROIT: US fuel pump assembly retailer Auteria has published a new graphic that compares the amount of fuel pumped through a variety of hard-working fuel pumps.

The team at Auteria looked at funny cars (a type of drag racers), cargo ships, planes, Nascar cars, and other vehicles that demand a lot from their fuel pumps. The graphic illustrates fuel consumption at a gallon-per-hour rate and, for fun, does include one vehicle that uses a nominal amount of fuel each hour.

"For those of us who like mechanical trivia, this was a lot of fun to create," said Auteria product manager Ana Rivera. "We have a huge inventory of fuel pumps that are identified with letters and numbers, but it turns out one amazing fuel pump has its own unique name - Black Mamba. This pump by Rage Fuel Systems pumps fuel faster than pumps used in cargo ships and airliners."

aut-pump-ig


Using information collected from sites like fuelly.com, mpgomatic.com and fueleconomy.gov, the team at Auteria used the following methodology to find their answers:

Fuel consumption rates are in gallons per hour (1 gal/hr = 3.8 l/hr) and are either sourced from manufacturers or calculated based on range divided by average cruising speed divided by fuel capacity. The result is the fuel consumption rate (in gallons-per-hour). In the case where an average cruising speed is not known, estimates were made.

Here are some highlights from the chart:

> The Rage Black Mamba can pump 7,400 gallons of fuel per hour (28,120 l/hr), but it only runs for a few seconds.
> A Nascar Cup Series car pumps 40 gallons of fuel per hour (151 l/hr).
> A cargo ship consumes about 4,364 gallons of fuel per hour (16,519 l/hr).
> The Honda Ruckus fuel pump only needs to move .2 (2/10ths) of a gallon of fuel per hour (0.7 l/hr).
> The fuel pumps in a Boeing 777 need to move 2,966 gallons of fuel per hour (11,227 l/hr), but the labour is split among two to six pumps.

Auteria is a nearly 50-year-old US company that provides fuel pump assemblies built to OEM specifications.

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