hypermiling? (OT?)

[paul bruesch]

I was a bit shocked TODAY when, in the Target store parking lot I saw a
Brand Spankin' New BigA*SUV drive in. I knew it was new because it still had
the paper "license plates" with the dealer's name and logo. This was one of
the big time Biggies... an Exploder or a Denial or one of those.

As hard as it is to pay $4, I'm actually thankful that people are finally
wising up, and I'm always a bit disappointed when gas goes down a nickel or
a dime, because it gives the BigA*SUV-heads a justification of sorts to keep
plowing along.

I heard a very interesting perspective related to this recently... the
scenario was a family with two vehicles -- a 12mpg SUV, and a 25mpg sedan.
They were deciding which to upgrade -- the SUV to a 15mpg van (3mpg
improvement), or the sedan to another sedan getting 30mpg (5mpg
improvement.) Both vehicles were driven similar annual distances, say 15,000
miles. The somewhat counter-intuitive best choice is to upgrade the 12mpg
vehicle to the 15mpg one. Why? The 12mpg vehicle burns 1250 gallons/year.
The 25mpg vehicle burns 600. Upgrading the 12mpg to 15mpg means burning 1000
gallons (250 fewer), compared to saving "only" 100 gallons by upgrading the
25mpg for 30mpg (burning 500 instead of 600.)

The speaker did conclude by saying it would be even far better yet to trade
out the SUV for that 30mpg sedan (saving 750 gallons), but that a
12mpg-to-15mpg change is more significant than 25mpg-to-30mpg.

I used to sneer at the idea of a, what, 18mpg hybrid SUV, but looking at it
from this unarguably valid perspective, it's incredibly less evil than its
non-hybrid predecessor.

Paul Bruesch
Stillwater, MN (where most people have more money than I do and can still
"afford" to drive monsters.)

On Thu, Jul 10, 2008 at 9:51 PM, Kerry <kkean at neo.rr.com> wrote:

> It seems like a great concept Holly, and I find it fascinating that $4 a
> gallon seems to have been some kind of line in the sand or psychological
> flashpoint. At $3.50 people were still buying gas hogs, and now you can't
> give a big SUV away.
>
>
> Kerry Kean
> Kent, Ohio
>
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