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America’s Cars Are Getting Faster and More Efficient

bloomberg.com

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Re: America’s Cars Are Getting Faster and More Efficient

#161

Post by sgustard »

r00fus wrote: post #114
DamnInteresting wrote: post #73

A few weeks ago I bought a Chevy Bolt EV...according to the dealer it was the first one sold in my state (Utah). I'd been on a waiting list for almost a year. Sure, ICE engines are getting better, but EVs are rapidly gaining and will soon surpass. The Bolt is a bit expensive for a car of its body type, but "gassing up" at home is amazing, the 200+ mile range is great, and the sharply reduced emissions are a weight of…

The Bolt EV 0-60mph is rated at 6.5s. That's amazingly fast.

A modern electric car like a Tesla, Bolt or i3 (I've driven all of them) really takes off like a roller coaster. Silent and instant smooth acceleration. They are amazingly fun to drive.

Re: America’s Cars Are Getting Faster and More Efficient

#162

Post by komali2 »

cglace wrote: post #156
komali2 wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

shrug you can't always get what you want, man. If he's tearing up and down your local neighborhood street that's one thing, but it's hard to feel sympathy for someone annoyed by a loud car when its out and about among hundreds of other cars. Can't you just roll the window up till he's gone? It's not like it's hard to avoid a loud car.

First, what do hundreds of quiet cars have to do with one really annoying muscle car that likes to rev their engine at stop lights to show how cool they are? Second, how do I know that I need to roll my window up when I arrive at that stop light? Third, it takes about 10 seconds to roll all of my windows up. By that time my ears are already ringing. Sorry, I had a car pull up beside me yesterday under a bridge and re…

If it's too loud, you can always call in with his plate. Enough reports and he can get ticketed for an illegal muffler. Happened to a buddy of mine back in Texas, and he totally had it coming.

Re: America’s Cars Are Getting Faster and More Efficient

#163

Post by revelation »

valuearb wrote: post #160
revelation wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except road "accidents" are the biggest killer of teenagers aged 10-19, people who are pretty much on the lowest possible spot on the natural mortality curve: http://www.bbc.com/news/health-39920052 For many of those, it was someone else deciding to drive that killed them. So yes, if you take slanted statistics and add some "but look over there" rationalizations... well, you still end up at "1 in 3 accidental deaths"…

Yea, young people almost only die in accidents, so obviously cars would be a large proportion of their almost infinitesimal death rates.

Well yes, that is what we are trying to figure out here?! What is killing healthy people not expected to die shortly?

For people approaching 90, everything from a fall to a cut can be deadly. But that tells us more about 90 year olds than cuts or falls.

Re: America’s Cars Are Getting Faster and More Efficient

#164

Post by valuearb »

dashundchen wrote: post #124
valuearb wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US only about 1 out of every 70 deaths is from an auto accident. As a single cause of death, it's not even in the top 10. Less than 1 in 3 accidental deaths is auto accident related. More people commit suicide (42,000) than die in auto accidents (40,000). http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/282929.php Deaths per mile driven have plummeted over time. From 24 per million miles in 1921, to 7 per hundred mill…

1/3 of avoidable deaths is not insubstantial - and traffic accidents aren't the only harm done by autos. Add in an estimated 53,000 deaths in the US due to transportation emissions. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1352231013... Potentially millions killed by auto emissions worldwide. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/dec/17/pollutio... The leading cause of death in the US for people under…

Except that some illnesses like cancer are avoidable, it's not just accidents.

Except that buses and trains and horses and teslas kill people and pollute. Even bikes kill people. Every mode of transportation is a killer, so if you want to eliminate travel deaths you can only eliminate travel.

If you eliminated cars completely tens of thousands would likely still die in the US from transportation accidents. But now you've trapped people and forced them to live close to work, do less traveling, and live crappier lives.

Automobiles provide freedom to choose where you want to live and work. They are cleaner than ever and getting cleaner every year.

And the vast majority of the US is empty land.

And the below age of 25 stat is incredibly misleading. People under the age of 25 rarely die of disease or cancer, which are by far the leading causes of death. They rarely die at all which is why car accidents are disproportionally represented for young people. In reality 99% of people who die had a cause of death unrelated to traffic accidents.

Re: America’s Cars Are Getting Faster and More Efficient

#165

Post by azinman2 »

For all the talk by liberatians and their ilk that regulation is bad and unnecessary, that chart of median fuel effeciency due to government requirements should give them pause. Wow. Well over a decade of non-progress until a path forward is mandated. Suddently the needle starts moving, with car owners, the environment, and energy import needs as big winners here.

Re: America’s Cars Are Getting Faster and More Efficient

#166

Post by giobox »

drewg123 wrote: post #11

I'm not sure that I believe their assertion that cars have gotten lighter. Perhaps the real land-yacht monstrosities have been weeded out (and replaced with SUVs). But it seems like comfort and safety concerns, coupled with more power and better fuel economy have been causing equivalent cars to become heavier (and more expensive) over time. As an example, one of my first cars was an 84 VW GTI. It weighed ~2000lbs. Tr…

Agreed - the idea that modern cars are in aggregate lighter than the stuff from even the 80s/90s is laughable. I was really enjoying this article right up until the end, where instead of taking average data for car weights they simply compared two models of Camaro that buck the trend.

Granted cars have gotten much safer, but much of that is due to increased crash regulations forcing car manufacturers to make modern cars much larger to account for the crumple zones etc that make them much better at protecting occupants as well as pedestrians in accidents. This in turn is a major factor in why cars are so often much, much heavier today than before. Colin Chapman is probably turning in his grave!

Re: America’s Cars Are Getting Faster and More Efficient

#167

Post by valuearb »

refurb wrote: post #148
valuearb wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US only about 1 out of every 70 deaths is from an auto accident. As a single cause of death, it's not even in the top 10. Less than 1 in 3 accidental deaths is auto accident related. More people commit suicide (42,000) than die in auto accidents (40,000). http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/282929.php Deaths per mile driven have plummeted over time. From 24 per million miles in 1921, to 7 per hundred mill…

Interesting stat. 1 death for every 1 million miles. If the average person drives 12,000 miles per year for say 60 years (18 to 80, yes it's over estimating), that's 720,000 miles driven. That would infer your chance of dying in an auto accident is ~70% over a lifetime.

Oops! It was 100 million miles, not 1 million miles, my mistake.

Re: America’s Cars Are Getting Faster and More Efficient

#168

Post by GlennS »

kmm wrote: post #60

I always wondered why American cars are so inefficient. Seems such a waste of your significantly cheaper gas :) I drive an Opel Astra H 1.7 CDTI and I can get up to 50 mpg (4.7 l/100 km) on the highway, and I never dip under 40 mpg (5.8 l/100km) even when doing a lot of city driving. I understand that my car is comparatively somewhat smaller (1200 kg) and underpowered (100 hp), yet I can't imagine needing more horsep…

I've just come from a trip around the US national parks, and noticed something similar.

I rented the cheapest, smaller car that I could, which was a 2015 Dodge Dart which would probably be about mid-range in the UK. It claimed 30 miles / gallon for optimal driving. Converting, that's 36 miles / UK gallon.

I don't actually own a car at the moment, but for a few years I owned a 1995 Peugeot 106 which normally got just under 50 MPG, say about 40 miles per US gallon.

Makes for a pretty disappointing comparison. 20 years later and still 25% behind?

Re: America’s Cars Are Getting Faster and More Efficient

#169

Post by valuearb »

YokoZar wrote: post #154
revelation wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except road "accidents" are the biggest killer of teenagers aged 10-19, people who are pretty much on the lowest possible spot on the natural mortality curve: http://www.bbc.com/news/health-39920052 For many of those, it was someone else deciding to drive that killed them. So yes, if you take slanted statistics and add some "but look over there" rationalizations... well, you still end up at "1 in 3 accidental deaths"…

A more complete analysis of death rates compares the cause of death vs the otherwise expected lifespan of the person. Cancer and heart disease are major killers, but they primarily affect old unhealthy people. Car crashes and suicides are much more likely to kill young people -- while they may be a relatively small proportion of "total deaths" they are a much larger contributor to "loss of average lifespan"

Driving is super safe. There is no evidence that driving is any less safe for young people. They just rarely die of anything.

Re: America’s Cars Are Getting Faster and More Efficient

#170

Post by dangrossman »

Someone1234 wrote: post #146
DamnInteresting wrote: post #73

A few weeks ago I bought a Chevy Bolt EV...according to the dealer it was the first one sold in my state (Utah). I'd been on a waiting list for almost a year. Sure, ICE engines are getting better, but EVs are rapidly gaining and will soon surpass. The Bolt is a bit expensive for a car of its body type, but "gassing up" at home is amazing, the 200+ mile range is great, and the sharply reduced emissions are a weight of…

Electric vehicles are a tough sell now though. The Chevy Bolt EV has a 60 kWh Lithium-ion battery; to charge that fully costs $8.7 in Utah (14.5 cents per kWh). Per the EPA's measure that gets you 238 miles. Gas costs approx $2.24/gallon in Utah. A Prius has a 11.3 gallon tank and a 540 miles range (again, EPA standard). That means that $11.15 would get you the same distance as a full Bolt EV charge in gas. Now, befo…

> The Bolt EV costs $36,620, the Prius $23,475.

The Chevy Bolt has a $7500 electric vehicle tax credit, many states have rebates of $1000 to $3000, and some utility companies offer their own rebates and incentives. That narrows the price difference quite a bit, and drops it well below the average new car selling price.

You're also not going to be producing gasoline at home, while a lot of people buying these expensive early electric vehicles are also early adopters of solar panels.

If you look at the $/kWh trend on lithium ion batteries (over 80% drop in 6 years), the most expensive part in these cars, it's only a matter of time before EVs cost no more than other types of vehicles without the government help.

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