April 29, 2008
Once my toe heals up (week or so) I am going to start bike commuting again to work.
My car gets better gas mileage than I thought. For a trip to Atlanta that involved 85% highway and 15% city driving, my car registered 35 miles per gallon. But I want to be conservative and estimate that my car gets 24 mpg in the city. My round trip commute to work is about 13 miles so at $3.50 a gallon, my cost for a one-day commute is $1.90. That isn't enough to motivate me to ride my bike to work, but since I enjoy it, I'll do it anyway.
Addendum - I think there is something wrong with the fact that my 1997 car gets better gas mileage than most newer cars. Computers have made huge strides in the past ten years. So have television sets. Hybrids are new since 1997, but continuously variable transmissions (CVTs) have been around since before my car was manufactured. I test drove a CVT version of my car in 1997. And diesel fuel is a sloppy solution. Diesel emissions stink (and make people sick, I don't care how German your car is) and diesel fuel is now selling at a premium to unleaded ($4.06 per gallon average this month). Anyhow, it just seems like in ten years car manufacturers could have figured out how to build a cheaper or same cost version with better gas mileage.
Posted by megabeth at April 29, 2008 03:13 PM
Cool.
We have 2 vehicles and one gets 28 mpg and the other gets 18. That is nearly $7 to commute in the guzzler. Would I pay someone $7 to drive me to work? Probably not. So I am motivated!
Posted by: A at April 29, 2008 03:43 PM
Re addendum. Yes there is no engineering reason cars can't get 40 mpg. We (consumers) don't demand it and the oil lobby is powerful so the government doesn't require it.
Posted by: A at April 29, 2008 04:58 PM
Trying to resist the urge to make long reply to you reply A.
Yes there are cars which get 40 mpg or close to that figure now. Most are hybrids or Smart cars.
There are many reasons people have gone to hybrids in larger numbers now. There's the issue of costs; smaller size to the vehicle and a lingering reluctance to invest in a system that is relatively new. As for the Smart car, the size I think is the main reason people are moving towards it faster - that and the lack of dealers in this area.
I think though as gas costs increase and as people rethink their transportation needs (do I really need a SUV to go to work or the mall?) then there'll be more consumer movement toward smaller cars.
There're other issues as well like the lag in consumer demand as opposed to need (I think I'll keep the Tahoe and hope prices will go down.) and the fact that people can't readily go out and charge cars economically (Anyone want to buy a new F-150?). The cost of transportation is more than just the cost of fuel if you still have a car note.
As for me, I'm glad to have my paid for '99 Corolla.
Posted by: Southtrek at April 30, 2008 12:52 PM
I read forecasts at work that predict where fuel prices are going to go in the next 15-20 years. According to most of them, oil will probably not go below $80-90/bbl ever again and some are predicting much higher. Changes in fuel prices will be determined by any carbon policy enacted after Bush leaves office. If carbon policy is very restrictive, expect the price of gasoline to go up even more. If carbon policy is not restrictive and demand continues to increase, expect the price of gasoline to go up...
Posted by: megabeth at April 30, 2008 01:11 PM
Post a comment