On Fuel Efficiency

I appreciate all the really cool 'self driving cars' and 'long chain-coupling cars' and Tesla cars and all those really cool futuristic new technologies and Hybrid Cars, and electric cars and all that crap.  But let's not kid ourselves.  These things miss the point.  If you really want to help.  If you want to reduce traffic and to reduce your carbon footprint, then:

Stop-Fucking-Driving.

We don't need a new design solution or a fantastic new technology.  What we need is to get cars off the road.

I would love to see what the fuel efficiency difference is between a Prius driven by one person and a Econoline van carrying eight people.  I bet it's pretty close and I bet the Van still wins out.  This notion that we can have our cake and eat it too, that we own the open road and cars represent freedom - these notions are helping to fuel a Global Warming lifestyle.  If we insist on avoiding one another, and isolating ourselves and not looking at our ugly neighbors on the bus, then we are just digging deeper, no matter what cutting edge and expensive technology we have.  The Prius is just working harder to preserve this Global Warming lifestyle rather than to create a sustainable alternative.

According to this government list of best and worst fuel economy cars, the best fuel economy is the Chevy Spark at 119 and the Prius scores a mere 42.  And the worst Large-sized fuel economy is Rolls Royce Phantom at 14.  Using completely made up math, if we multiply the efficiency for every person riding the car (take off 15% for added weight) then we get an efficiency of 71.4 for the Rolls Royce, easily trouncing a Prius driven by one person.  My math may be made up, but I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be somewhere near the mark.

Now, this doesn't reach the efficiency of the Chevy Spark, but it gets in the ballpark. And very few people can afford either of these cars, so they will have to settle for something, ironically, more or less fuel efficient.  You can organize the list by excluding electric cars, and when you do, the numbers are even closer.  As the low end and high end grow together, the carpool in a less efficient vehicle will be further and further in the lead.  I hope this illustrates that a change in behavior is more powerful and less expensive than a change in technology when it comes to fuel efficiency.


-D



Link:  http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/best-worst.shtml