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Highlands Today

Gas Saver

Kathy Waters/Highlands Today

Chuck Detore of Avon Park has developed the Fuel Charger, which helps save gas and cuts down on emissions.

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By Bill Rogers | Highlands Today

Published: May 3, 2008

AVON PARK – As gas prices continue to increase – seemingly on a daily basis – Chuck Detore offers some painful numbers for drivers.

"It was $2.87 last year at this time," Detore said. "It has gone up 80 cents in a year. That's approximately a 25 percent increase over last year."

Also, consider this: According to a report on gas pricing in Florida by then-Attorney General Charlie Crist, the average price of gas in the state in May 2004 was $1.95 per gallon.

Detore, who lives in Avon Park, believes he can provide beleaguered motorists with some relief with a device he and a friend came up in the 1990 while in California.

The Fuel Charger is installed between the final fuel filter and as close to the fuel injector pump as possible.

A brochure touting the product states when fuel goes through an ionization process, the molecules are dispersed and made smaller. If more of the fuel molecule is exposed to air during the combustion process, the fuel will burn cleaner, hotter and more completely. Due to enhanced combustion there will be less pollutants going into the atmosphere.

The brochure goes on to say that if the combustion process is better as a result of fuel ionization, the power generated during the power stroke of the engine will be greater. The overall fuel economy will improve as a result.

A native of New Jersey, Detore said he graduated from Villanova University with a degree in psychology. He says he has no mechanical background.

"It was just an idea," he said of the Fuel Charger. "I just knew through physics if you put dissimilar metals together, it creates a better charge.

"The other guy was a little bit more mechanically inclined than I," he added. "We put it together and it worked."

Detore said the gas savings is better on older vehicles because the efficiency of the engines in newer cars and trucks has improved.

"What spurred me to do this is twofold," he said. "I'm out of the construction business that I was in because of obviously the lulls we're in and the fact that we're really getting raped on fuel costs."

Detore said between 4,000 and 5,000 Fuel Chargers have been sold. The device, which has been refined several times, was patented in 1996.

It was designed to cut down on emissions, but Detore and his friend realized that "emissions wasn't going to sell anything because nobody cared.

"Then I got the revelation that maybe it is saving fuel since it is burning better, so we tested and found out it saved fuel," he said.

Detore came to Florida in 1996 and began marketing the device in the state.

Detore has compiled a lot of information about the Fuel Charger that includes testimonials from various companies. One mentioned a "real 10 percent savings of fuel" and another said "with a proven savings over $800 per truck per year, we would be foolish not to buy Fuel Chargers for our entire fleet."

Detore said he gave a couple of the devices to the Sebring Police Department. The department reported mixed results. A letter from Chief Tom Dettman to Sebring Administrator Bob Hoffman, dated Oct. 3, 2001, stated a 1999 Ford Crown Victoria with the Fuel Charger received better gas mileage compared to the same model without it. But a 1996 Crown Victoria with the device did not receive better gas mileage than the same model without it.

In a letter later that month to Detore, Hoffman said there appears to be a savings in gas with the city's streetsweeper.

Chuck is the co-owner of C & T Detore, which is a division of Empower Group Inc., with his wife, Terrie Lee. She said they are looking for distributors to market the device again. The Detores are also willing to discuss business partnerships

There are three sizes of the Fuel Charger – one for compact cars, one for pickup trucks and the third for big semis. The unit for semis can also be installed in grove machinery and earth-moving equipment, he said.

The units are not sold in any stores, but are available from Detore at 873-1888.

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