Tag Archives: automobiles

When you fill up your fuel tank at a gas station, have you ever seen a Department of Transportation official measuring the wheelbase of your car? Neither have I, but the Federal Highway Administration’s Highway Statistics, table VM-1, reports the total amount of fuel used, to the nearest 1,000 gallons, by vehicle type. Those vehicle types include buses, motorcycles, large trucks, and short- and long-wheelbase automobiles, with the division being wheelbases of 121 inches.

The government has a pretty good idea of how many miles Americans drive each year based on 5,000 traffic counters all across the country. To be honest, the traffic counters are really only on major roads, so the miles driven on local roads are just estimates. Even on the major roads, I doubt the traffic counters are good enough to detect the difference between vehicles whose wheelbases are shorter or longer than 121 inches.

Even more difficult is determining how many gallons of fuel are used by each type of vehicle. As near as I can tell, these numbers are based on a model and I’m not sure some of the assumptions in the model are valid. As I’ve noted before, I’m particularly suspicious of the bus numbers, but I have to wonder about motorcycle and short- and long-wheelbase autos as well. Continue reading →

Our society has a near-consensus that fuel economy and social justice are both important. Even if the terms can sometimes be politically charged, there is no point in wasting energy nor does any decent person seek to oppress others simply because of their race, religion, or education. At the same time, we have to recognize that policies that promote one can end up harming the other.

Photo by Niagara.

Transportation engineer Michael Sivak has scrutinized the fuel economy of cars, trucks, and other motor vehicles. He periodically updated data for many years when with the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute and, since 2018, as an independent consultant. Continue reading →

Auto traffic in New York City is back to 85 to 85 percent of pre-pandemic levels, and truck traffic is up to 100 percent or more, according to “Gridlock” Sam Schwartz. Schwartz is the traffic engineer who popularized and possibly coined the term “gridlock.”

As the Antiplanner noted a couple of weeks ago, nationwide driving in July had returned to 89 percent of July, 2019 levels. But how can traffic be that high if everyone is working at home?

According to the National Household Transportation Survey, less than 19 percent of personal auto travel is for commuting. When trucks and other commercial traffic are added, the percentage of motor vehicle trips that are made by commuters is much smaller. Thus, traffic could rise to 85 or even 90 percent of normal even if almost none of the increase was for commuting. Continue reading →

SUVs “ruined the environment,” says to a rather shrill article in the Guardian that was also reprinted in Mother Jones and other publications. It reached this conclusion based on a study showing they were the “second largest contributor to the increase in global carbon emissions from 2010 to 2018.”

The author of the article, who frets that people with SUVs also have a hard time finding a place “to park the things,” obviously hasn’t looked at an SUV lately. No more are all SUVs Chevy Suburbans or Ford Excursions. Most of them are about the same size as regular cars, just a little taller. Nor are they all four-wheel drive gas guzzlers; in fact, they only use a little more energy than regular cars.

It’s the extra height that makes them attractive to people. A taller car allows drivers to see further down the road. Occupants also sit higher, like at a dining table, rather than low with their legs sticking out in front of them, like a sports car. Thus, they are both more comfortable and easier to drive. Continue reading →