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100 MPG vs 10 MPG

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by flynz4, Dec 28, 2005.

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  1. EricGo

    EricGo New Member

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    Raise the price of petrol to $5 - $10/gallon and just watch how the overall consumption of the 10 MPG vehicle fleet plummets.

    Who needs algebra, when common sense should prevail ?
     
    #21 EricGo, Dec 28, 2005
  2. LaughingMan

    LaughingMan Active Member

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    Exactly. The fundamental assumption that GM makes is that the price of gas is stable and relatively cheap. But what about sensitivity to variable gas prices?

    We had gas spike up to almost $4 this year, and though it's come down, it's still trending upward VERY quickly. That's not very stable and level if you ask me.

    Going back to the math that Tony did, suppose we have a 10% increase of the price of gas from $2.25 to $2.475.

    For the 10 MPG vehicle, that's going from $2250 -> $2475. An INCREASE of $225.

    For the 100MPg, that's going from $225 -> $247.5. An increase of only $22.50.

    It works BOTH WAYS... you'll *SAVE* more gas from going from 10->11, but you'll also get hit just as hard if the price of gas goes UP.

    Driving a high mileage car like the Prius isn't just about gallons saved... as mileage approaches infinity, the number of gallons consumed approaches zero, and the number of gallons saved approaches a constant...

    driving a high mileage car also means some level of immunity to variable gas prices!
     
    #22 LaughingMan, Dec 28, 2005
  3. parrot_lady

    parrot_lady Member

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    funny I was just talking to my mom about the cars high mileage and enjoying it, and how if gas went to $5 a gallon it wouldn't really bother me. (ok, so my wallet would feel it a little) but if I'm going round about 50 miles on a gallon I'm still only paying ten cents a mile (+ wear and tear)

    ^_^
     
    #23 parrot_lady, Dec 28, 2005
  4. flynz4

    flynz4 Member

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    To me... what this example provides is perspective.

    We (Prius owners) tend to do eveyrthing possible to squeeze a couple of extra mpg out of our vehicles... higher tire pressure, block heaters, etc. However, from an analytical perspective... the delta in cost savings is really small.

    On the other hand... people who drive gas guzzlers very seldom go to the extremes that a Prius driver would take... yet if they did... they would actually save more gasoline than the Prius driver saves by employing the same techniques.

    We (Prius drivers) made the HUGE fuel savings the moment we decided to buy a Prius in the first place. I am not saying to give up on trying to squeeze every last but of economy... but realize that we are operating in an area of diminishing returns.

    /Jim
     
    #24 flynz4, Dec 28, 2005
  5. JKnight

    JKnight Member

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    As it was presented on Car Talk, to the best of my recollection, the gist of it was, two drivers (husband and wife) drive the same number of miles. She gets 100 mpg, he gets 10 mpg. Which would save them more money, her replacing her car with one that gets 200 mpg or him replacing his with one that gets 11 mpg?

    At $2.00/gallon, she's spending 2 cents/mile for gas, which would go to 1 cent/mile, saving 1 cent per mile.

    He's spending 20 cents a mile and would go to about 18 cents a mile, saving 2 cents a mile.

    So, he's saving more money, but he's still spending about ten times as much on gas per mile.

    I'm sure they meant it purely as a math problem!

    Jan
     
    #25 JKnight, Dec 28, 2005
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