Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank Lee
I wonder how a vehicle's utilization of it's cargo capacity could be included?
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In another blog entry. You make an excellent point. When I'm one of eight passengers in an airport shuttle van I'm experiencing better passenger mileage than I am in MAX. I think fuel efficiency in a community would best be served with a number of vehicles--a bunch of 100+ mpg small capacity vehicles (one or two people, or one person and modest cargo, used for commuter/"grocery getter" tasks) a few Metro-size vehicles, a minivan with removable back seats, and a pickup truck with trailer-pulling power.
I drove from Indiana to Pennsylvania in the company of a guy (George Voll) with an ecomodded (small diesel and streamlining) Metro sedan, it was less than ideal conditions (raining buckets) but we ran one leg at 45 mph (which is about best economy speed for us both), I got 113 mpg and he got 94 mpg.
I'm a childless bachelor in rural Oregon, 4 miles from a small town but 30 miles from a big one and I have a weekly business trip to a city 170 miles and I'm usually driving solo and lightly loaded, so for my lifestyle my 20% better mileage overall equals 20% better passenger miles.
George is a family man in rural Indiana and lives 15 miles from town, he has a wife and two kids and his car is his daily driver, running the kids to school every morning etc etc so for his lifestyle, his car is way more fuel-frugal than mine. I'd say George averages 2 passengers (including himself) aboard, so even if I dock him a bit for the extra weight he still has me beat by 60% per passenger mile.
Gosh, I've hijacked (no relation) my own thread, but Frank made such a good point I had to follow up on it: if we're going to give mileage credits for cargo capacity, utilized capacity is what matters. If you're commuting to work in an Escalade, you don't get extra points because you COULD be hauling a basketball team and a boat trailer.