Trick question--you save more gas switching from the SUV with 15 MPG
to one that gets 20 MPG.
Proof: Drive all four vehicles for 10,000 miles and calculate the
number of gallons of gas used.
15 MPG: uses 666.67 ga.
20 MPG: uses 500 ga.
25 MPG: uses 400 ga.
40 MPG: uses 250 ga.
Voila, you reap a savings of 166.67 gallons when switching from the 15
to 20 MPG vehicle.
The savings in fuel is not linear, though people commonly believe it
to be true. Thus as a country we would reap more fuel savings if we
rid our highways of the really fuel-inefficient vehicles first.
This was covered in a recent "Policy Forum" in Science magazine. The
name of the article is "The MPG Illusion." Anyone who wishes to
receive a copy of this article as a PDF file, please contact me and
I'll send it to you (it's not publicly available on the web site).
Diana
On Jul 21, 2008, at 11:29 AM, Mixon Bill wrote:
13 MPG in a Jeep? Hard to believe it's that bad. Must have been
going 80. You can't really do this calculation on the basis on one
fill-up, because there can be significant variation in just how full
you actually get the tank. Average over several tanks.
Interesting question: Which saves more gas, switching from a SUV
with 15 MPG to one that gets 20, or switching from a car that gets
25 to one that gets 40?
(Not that there's any such thing as a car that gets 40 in real life.)
--Mixon
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Diana R. Tomchick
Associate Professor
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Department of Biochemistry
5323 Harry Hines Blvd.
Rm. ND10.214B
Dallas, TX 75390-8816, U.S.A.
Email: diana.tomch...@utsouthwestern.edu
214-645-6383 (phone)
214-645-6353 (fax)
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