Quote:
Originally Posted by tasdrouille
Christ, MPG/ton is miles per gallon per ton.
A 30 mpg vehicle weighting a ton have the same ratio as a 15 mpg vehicle weighting 2 tons. It's useful to measure how efficiently you are moving stuff around. It allow for comparison between cars, light trucks, big rigs, freight trains, planes, etc. For passenger cars this ratio has been steadily increasing.
I've got an SAE paper on it I read not to long ago. I'll dig it out.
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So here's where I'm confused... you say that a 30mpg vehicle that weights one 1 ton... (that would be 30/1=30 which makes it 30:1)
will have the same MPG/Ton ratio as a 15MPG vehicle weighing 2 ton... (once again - 15/2 = 7.5 so it's 7.5:1)
How do they have the same MPG/ton ratio? To make them the same (mythbusters addict) we'll do a little experiment.. let's swap some numbers.
30mpg vehicle weighs
2ton, therefore: 30/2 = 15 so 15:1
15mpg vehicle weighs
1ton, therefore: 15/1 = 15 so 15:1
NOW they have the same ratio. This still proves exactly what I said earlier... even if that 30mpg, two ton vehicle weighed only 1 ton (for a reduction of 1 ton of weight over 22 years) The change would appear considerable, in that the ratio would change from 15:1 to 30:1 (30mpg / 1ton = 30, so 30:1)
THE ENGINE is still not any more efficient. It's still only able to net 30mpg, even though there is less work to be done.
HOW, I ask, does that make those numbers anything more than garbled BS that the industry came up with to prove they're making a difference, when in reality they're pocketing the extra money from NOT making a difference?