PAULDING COUNTY, Ga.,None — Whenever gas prices spike, gadgets promising better gas mileage quickly follow.
The Fuel Genie, The Platinum Gas Saver and The Tornado each failed a Consumer Reports test. A new Georgia-born device, the Viper Cell, is promising 15 percent better gas mileage from the first tankful. A Paulding County inventor is ready to stand by that pledge, and a local city is ready to pledge taxpayer money on it.
"We're installing 36 of the fuel cells. We have a little more than $16,000 invested in them," said Dallas City Manager Kendall Smith.
Channel 2 consumer investigator Jim Strickland was there as the city of Dallas sunk its teeth into the Viper Cell.
The device builds pressure in the fuel line to shoot the gas into the engine in smaller particles with greater force. Dallas first tested three city vehicles for several weeks.
"We had a 9-percent, 11-percent and a 14-percent increase in the fuel mileage. We're looking at about a $700 per month saving per vehicle," said Smith.
"They went through a pretty strong vetting process," said inventor Dr. Jeff Selano, a local chiropractor. "They wanted to make sure they knew that it worked before they were going to use taxpayer dollars."
Selano said he first conceived of the Viper Cell technology as a college student.
"We were at this when gas was $2.25 a gallon, and we couldn't get anyone to talk to us. There's a pain threshold that hit about $3.50, and the phone started ringing," he said.
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Selano has a patent pending and a secret process. He refuses to say what goes on inside the cell's tubular structure.
Mechanic Dwayne Priest doesn't know how it works, but he knows what the cell does.
"It takes the fuel and breaks the fuel down, and increases vapor pressure. With increase in vapor pressure, you're getting everything you can out of your fuel when it goes into the combustion chamber," explained Priest.
Channel 2 was there as Priest installed the device on one of three-dozen HVAC trucks. Selano is using Paulding County as a de facto test market, signing up fleets first.
"You can see if you just look right through here, it's got the little contraption right here," demonstrated landscaping executive James Kelly, who showed Strickland the device on one of his trucks.
Kelly is also a Dallas city councilman. He has Viper Cells on 10 of his trucks. Most of them are diesel powered. Kelly said it works the same way. He has spent $3,400 on them. He told Strickland it will have paid for itself in 6 months.
Selano is hoping to sign up car dealers, who would install them as an extra option. Individual car owners can order online, but Selano is waiting for a big break. NAPA is testing the device and will soon decide whether to stock it at stores nationwide.
"Right now we're talking to three other counties, several other cities, but nationwide, it's a big country," said Selano.