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A gallon of gas

Published by marco on

Updated by marco on

The one real good side-effect of the invasion and take-over of Iraq was supposed to be a steady supply of oil to keep gas prices stable. Alas, Americans are feeling the pinch as gas prices hit an all-time record of $1.80 (national average). The Gas Price Crisis (White House.Org) is, as always, a highly non-reliable news source, but they did include a fake quote from Bush that caught my attention:

“Vice President Cheney and I know the oil industry inside and out. In fact, one of the reasons a near-majority of Americans voted for us was they believed that with two petrochemical superstars at the helm of this great national supertanker which is the US of A, we would never suffer the indignity of having to spend as much for a gallon of gasoline as we do for a cup of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee. And yet here we are. Funny how life throws you curveballs, ain’t it? (emphasis added)”

That got me thinking — you’ve got a country full of people staggering from one Starbucks to the next, ready and willing to pay $4.50 for a cup of coffee. This same crowd screams at the top of their lungs should gas prices rise as much as a penny or three per gallon. Now that gas is about $1.80 per gallon (I know, I know, that’s the national average and people from civilized parts of America are paying way more), you’re still getting about 3 gallons of gas for every cup of coffee you buy.

That’s a bargain when you think of the effort that goes into harvesting and refining the oil — to say nothing of the environmental cost.

How the US stacks up vs. Europe

People say Europeans pay way more for gas; let’s see how much more. Since summer always means higher gas prices (people travel more, demand is up, oil companies reap the benefits — every summer), and prices are expected to reach $3.50 in some places, let’s see how an American measures up to a European.

Since I only have empirical data for Switzerland (the gas station on the corner) and they’re not part of the EU, we’ll just have to settle.

1L = CHF1.35
1Gal = 3.79L
CHF1.35 = $1.05 (rate for March 31, 2004 found at Oanda)
1L = $1.05
1Gal = $3.99

So, there you have it. If gas gets 2.2 times as expensive as it’s ever been in the States, it will cost as much as European gas.

While we’re at it, let’s see how much gas you’re probably going to need. In Europe, a small car uses about about 5L/100Km (Polo, etc.). A sportier thing with more carrying capacity might use 12L/100Km (Passat, etc.). Let’s take the average and go with 8.5L/100Km. This assumes that just as many people drive tiny, super fuel-efficient cars as sportier, mega-horsepower cars.

OK. Since over half the fleet of America is SUVs and light trucks, we can take the bottom gas mileage of about 12Mi/Gal and take the mileage of a car like a Honda Civic, which has about 35Mi/Gal. The average then should be about 23.5MPG. That’s without taking into account that manufacturers get these numbers in ideal conditions; road conditions are lower, by “10 percent for city mileage and 22 percent for highway mileage”. See Fuel mileage data overstated, some say for more information. After all of that work, I found a report, US 2001 vehicle mileage falls to 20-year low − EPA, which pegged the “average of all 2001 model vehicles [at] 20.4 mpg”. We’ll go with that number because I know it hasn’t improved in the last 3 years.

Let’s do some more math now:

1Gal = 3.79L
1.6Km = 1Mi
8.5L = 2.24Gal
100Km = 62.5Mi
8.5L/100Km = 27.9Mi/Gal

Looks like the average European car is about 40% more efficient than an American car. Back to the math:

CH = 62.5Mi = (2.24Gal @ $3.99) = $8.93
US = 62.5Mi = (3.06Gal @ $1.80) = $5.51

So Americans are still paying way less at the pump than Europeans. Let’s play with a few more hypotheticals: the price two years ago was about a dollar a gallon in most places. How does that stack up?

US = 62.5Mi = (3.06Gal @ $1.00) = $3.06

Now, what if you drive one of those gas-guzzling SUVs and you get about 10MPG?

US = 62.5Mi = (6.12Gal @ $1.80) = $11.06
US = 62.5Mi = (6.12Gal @ $1.00) = $6.12 (2 years ago)

So, if you were driving an SUV that guzzles gas in a sickening fashion two years ago, you were paying about 70% of what a European was paying for a car that was almost 3 times as efficient. It’s only with today’s skyrocketing gas prices that you’re actually paying more for your gas-guzzling tank.