http://www.iconoclast-investor.com/2009/01/08/the-case-for-gallons-per-10000-miles/ An investment blog that is NOT always part of the herd Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:47:48 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.iconoclast-investor.com/2009/01/08/the-case-for-gallons-per-10000-miles/comment-page-1/#comment-3660 John Rosevear Tue, 13 Jan 2009 11:46:54 +0000 http://www.iconoclast-investor.com/?p=1028#comment-3660 I've been arguing this for years -- getting moms-with-kids out of Tahoes and Suburbans (14 mpg) and into minivans (19 mpg) is a much, much more significant shift (in more ways than one) than getting someone out of an A4 and into a Prius. Too many members of the Prius crowd don't understand that; they should. I’ve been arguing this for years — getting moms-with-kids out of Tahoes and Suburbans (14 mpg) and into minivans (19 mpg) is a much, much more significant shift (in more ways than one) than getting someone out of an A4 and into a Prius. Too many members of the Prius crowd don’t understand that; they should.

]]> http://www.iconoclast-investor.com/2009/01/08/the-case-for-gallons-per-10000-miles/comment-page-1/#comment-3329 Jerry Fri, 09 Jan 2009 16:11:06 +0000 http://www.iconoclast-investor.com/?p=1028#comment-3329 What in the world is someone doing driving an E350 or Sienna 4 WD in city traffic? That's the problem and what makes the comparison invalid. If people only drove the right vehicle for the conditions and their needs, this would be a non-issue. I ran the spreadsheets comparing them to a Prius getting 50 MPG. Mine actually gets 52.2 for the 50K miles I've driven it, but I rounded down. Compared to the E350 you would save 569 gallons and to the Sienna you would save 388 gallons. When I drive to the post office, the bank, the library, etc., I see these huge vehicles next to mine with one or two people in them. They are literally dumping hundreds of gallons of fuel waste products into the air every 10,000 miles and filling the pockets of foreign oil producers with money so they can use the vehicle for its intended purpose maybe three times a year. The rest of the time destroying the environment and wasting fuel and money when compared to an economical vehicle. At $2/gallon a person would save $1138.46 driving the Prius compared to the Ford and at $4/gallon the savings would be $2276.92. If the person is driving that gas guzzling vehicle because they like a big vehicle, not because they need it to work or do their daily activities, they should be paying the differential in price regarding wasted fuel used compared to the Prius each year to a fund to develop alternative, renewable energy sources. And that should go for every vehicle that gets worse mileage than the Prius. When we institute such a system, we will be well on our way to energy independence. As long as we don't we are simply subsidizing foreign oil producers who have us by the throat. Check out the two recent times when Russia shut off gas supplies as the warning regarding what we face for our wanton misuse of foriegn energy--but of course are ignoring--as we always do. We are in a similar situation regarding oil and will be until we have alternatives that are not foreign-derived. Give people an economic stimulus to drive the vehicle with the best fuel economy that will perform for 90% of their activities and we will be working to solve our energy and environmental problems. That stimulus is to charge them for the fuel they waste compared to a Prius and use the money to get us off foreign oil. Give people the ability to drive anything they want no matter what their needs, with no penalty, and we will continue to drive ourselves over a cliff. What in the world is someone doing driving an E350 or Sienna 4 WD in city traffic? That’s the problem and what makes the comparison invalid. If people only drove the right vehicle for the conditions and their needs, this would be a non-issue. I ran the spreadsheets comparing them to a Prius getting 50 MPG. Mine actually gets 52.2 for the 50K miles I’ve driven it, but I rounded down. Compared to the E350 you would save 569 gallons and to the Sienna you would save 388 gallons. When I drive to the post office, the bank, the library, etc., I see these huge vehicles next to mine with one or two people in them. They are literally dumping hundreds of gallons of fuel waste products into the air every 10,000 miles and filling the pockets of foreign oil producers with money so they can use the vehicle for its intended purpose maybe three times a year. The rest of the time destroying the environment and wasting fuel and money when compared to an economical vehicle.
At $2/gallon a person would save $1138.46 driving the Prius compared to the Ford and at $4/gallon the savings would be $2276.92. If the person is driving that gas guzzling vehicle because they like a big vehicle, not because they need it to work or do their daily activities, they should be paying the differential in price regarding wasted fuel used compared to the Prius each year to a fund to develop alternative, renewable energy sources. And that should go for every vehicle that gets worse mileage than the Prius. When we institute such a system, we will be well on our way to energy independence. As long as we don’t we are simply subsidizing foreign oil producers who have us by the throat. Check out the two recent times when Russia shut off gas supplies as the warning regarding what we face for our wanton misuse of foriegn energy–but of course are ignoring–as we always do. We are in a similar situation regarding oil and will be until we have alternatives that are not foreign-derived.
Give people an economic stimulus to drive the vehicle with the best fuel economy that will perform for 90% of their activities and we will be working to solve our energy and environmental problems. That stimulus is to charge them for the fuel they waste compared to a Prius and use the money to get us off foreign oil. Give people the ability to drive anything they want no matter what their needs, with no penalty, and we will continue to drive ourselves over a cliff.

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