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Old 10-19-2016, 10:50 AM   #1 (permalink)
Natalya
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Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Atlanta
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Red 2000 Insight (2017 through 2019) - '00 Honda Insight 5MT
90 day: 64.72 mpg (US)

Red 2000 Lithium Insight (2020) - '00 Honda Insight LTO
90 day: 71.76 mpg (US)
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Arrow Good MPG Target for Mass Market (Eco Rant)

I think it was BMW that announced they want all-electric cars by I think 2025. I don't see other manufacturers thinking this way, but they are going to have to have major electric initiatives or huge increases in MPG if we want to do something about climate change. Transportation of course is only a portion of CO2 emissions, with industry and power production producing more. The climate doesn't really care though, all of our CO2 outputs have to go down, and this is a transportation forum so let's talk about cars.

Electric cars are often cited at around 100 MPG Equivalent. I wonder if they even get that because of the way people drive. Do people typically achieve EPA estimates for fuel economy for regular cars? If they do that's great because then we kinda know what each car does. But like do electric cars really get 100mpg? I mean they gotta be up there, but coal was burned to make that power so you know even electric cars need some kind of efficiency.

Green car reports says the Tesla Model X for example is rated at 92mpge, and the Nissan Leaf is 114mpge. Are people really going to drive well enough to hit either of those targets? I'm going for Hypermiler Supreme Nerd 2016 status in my Insight hitting 77 on a really terrible (for fe) commute and I'm just thinking like the kinetic energy I see people waste on a daily basis, there's no way anyone hits the EPA estimate of any vehicle. When I drive like the rest of the public my car dips below EPA.

One of the positives of electric cars is they will become more efficient as power generation becomes more green. So as you keep making renewables the CO2 per mile decreeases in an electric vehicle. This means electric is absolutely the way of the future. But in the mean time the fossil fuel industry continues to look for growth, and with low gas prices Americans and Canadians seem almost compelled out of fear to buy bigger gas guzzling cars for no reason.

I am fearful too, but my fear is about the climate. The climate doesn't care about our emotionally deficient human brains and our poor car-buying-decision making processes. The climate only cares about how much CO2 and methane we put into the atmosphere. Everyone needs to reduce their carbon footprint dramatically. Miami and San Francisco and NYC are going down, it's just a matter of time. But maybe we can save Oakland or Pasadena or Washington DC.

What kind of MPG and MPGE targets should we be setting to dramatically reduce CO2? What kind of changes in the car buying market do we need to look at? Should older less efficient cars be modified to get better MPG and kept on the road longer so we can burn less CO2 by not manufacturing new vehicles? Do carpooling schemes need to become more widely adopted? CO2 has gotta come down, doesn't matter how.

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