tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21503568.post8276986862007648842..comments2023-11-03T06:32:28.410-04:00Comments on Staring At Empty Pages: Fuel efficiency of the fleetBarry Leibahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14205294935881991457noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21503568.post-91393714931526423672009-05-30T16:09:23.276-04:002009-05-30T16:09:23.276-04:00I agree we should be looking for even better effic...I agree we should be looking for even better efficiency, but you missed the sweet spot in your calculation. Car manufacturers are not going to improve their averages by improving the 26 MPG cars, they need to get rid of those 15 MPG cars.<br /><br />Let's re-do the calculation getting just 10 MPG better on a 15 MPG car.<br /><br />255 M/week = 17 gallons at 15MPG<br /><br />At 25MPG that'd be 10.2 gallons. <br /><br />now you're looking at closer to $900 a year savings.<br /><br />Those are the vehicles that are really causing a problem.JP Burkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16796725364997136448noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21503568.post-91623540806746155122009-05-27T23:43:20.951-04:002009-05-27T23:43:20.951-04:00I'm not certain, but I believe it is the latter, a...I'm not certain, but I believe it is the latter, and, yes, changing what people buy is also a way to achieve an improvement there. And, damn, but I wish we could convince people to stop buying Suburban Tanks!Barry Leibahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14205294935881991457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21503568.post-25493514544710260162009-05-27T23:30:34.875-04:002009-05-27T23:30:34.875-04:00I'm unsure of how the fleet average MPG figure is ...I'm unsure of how the fleet average MPG figure is calculated. Is it the average of the MPG figures of each model in a car maker's line-up, or is the average MPG of all the cars sold in a year? If it s the latter, the number could be changed a fair amount by trying to change the way people think about cars. Right now, size is the automotive status symbol. The bigger the truck or SUV, the better. If we could change people's thinking away from size and toward some other attribute, and simply sell fewer trucks, we'd be on the right track.Call me Paulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17704646008578216859noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21503568.post-61122456813388515962009-05-27T15:01:12.006-04:002009-05-27T15:01:12.006-04:00Right, the real point of the analysis was to highl...Right, the real point of the analysis was to highlight the limited value, in terms of fuel consumed (and, therefore, cost savings to the consumer), of these modest reductions. A mere 10 MPG improvement by 2016 is inadequate, and this may <I>not</I> actually be a "good start" if we settle for it, and it prevents us from demanding more.<br /><br />For an implementation in 2016, we should be pushing not for 36 MPG, but for 60, perhaps more. We might not get there by making cars that burn gasoline better, but by making cars that don't use gasoline, or use it for less of what they do. Electric motors, solar-powered battery charging, and other options are within our near-term technology.Barry Leibahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14205294935881991457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21503568.post-40029322883370838572009-05-27T14:21:29.420-04:002009-05-27T14:21:29.420-04:00Interesting analysis. But the financial tradeoffs...Interesting analysis. But the financial tradeoffs are of course only part, as you point out at the end. And who knows where gas prices will go; by the end of that interval it could be even worse, and the break-even point earlier. But in the end it doesn't really matter. We have to get more fuel efficient, and we have to get off fossil fuels completely. At least this is a step in the right direction.Frisky070802https://www.blogger.com/profile/02366971082815298119noreply@blogger.com