- Apr 19, 2005
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I was driving maybe 1200 m/y before pandemic. ~400 during. Haven't moved my car from where it sits for about a month now. It's not just to save $$, I have a small carbon footprint. I filled my tank BEFORE the Feb. 24 Russian invasion of Ukraine and probably won't approach a gas pump for months. When I do, I have the coin, but I'm in no hurry to get in my car. I have been doing every other week ~10 mile drives to Costco, but last one I hopped in a neighbor's car for basically a rideshare there and will do the same in a week... car sits idle (with a trickle charger on the battery).
That's way too logical LOL. U.S. consumers have tended to flip out once gas crosses the $4 mark, never mind adjusting for inflation vs 2008. As far as fuel efficiency goes, I believe CAFE has been somewhat too "flexible" and automakers haven't really tried that hard even over the long term. I don't know what "fleet-wide averages" look like over 20 years, but it looks like the Ford F-150 went from 16 mpg to 21 mpg?Probably not, but we barely drive now anyway, since I WFH and my wife can get into Boston via the T which is a short walk from us.
One thing to consider outside of gas prices: even as high as they are now, we cannot just consider the cost relative to the inflation-adjusted cost of years past. We really need to consider cost per mile, and in the last 20-30 years, engines have gotten more efficient, even for land barges. This helps to keep cost per mile down, even as gas prices might appear high on a per gallon scale.