Gas prices?

[Willie Escalade]

With my old job, I was commuting 30 miles from the Paramount/Compton/Lynwood area up to Sun Valley (and back). With my new job, I'm a bit over 4 miles away (it took me 10 minutes to get home tonight; usually takes me about 20 minutes to go to work during rush hour). People laugh at the fact I drive a "smaller" car (Corolla), but that bitch is averaging about 28mpg right now...and I use 87 octane fuel. I've gone from gassing up twice a week to only on Sundays (usually on an almost empty tank)...and if I didn't go to the valley to hang out with some of the crew I'd be gassing up even less. $4.00/gal is still high, but I'm not getting hurt as badly as others.

I'd still like to get that Fiat 500 Abarth Essesse (if it comes to America) or that 2012 New Beetle though...and yes, I realize they're small cars!

[Fitz1600]

Lift restrictions and lets drill for more domestic oil here in America. Also, build the damn pipeline from Canada to Texas and let's import more from our FRIENDLY neighbors to the north.

[Quiet Reflections]

Well in Maryland a few years back it was definitely over 4 dollars and if you do some research you will find it hit that point near you too

[trish]

In the U.S. the price of electricity ranges from $0.08 to $0.28 per kilowatt hour. The average is 11.58 cents per kwh.

The energy density of gasoline is 36.59 kilowatt hours per gallon. At $4.00 per gallon that amounts to 10.93 cents per kwh. So at $4.00/gal the energy from gasoline is still cheaper (assuming your engine is 100% efficient at extracting all the stored calories) than the energy that comes out of your wall sockets. When gasoline reaches $4.24/gal [] the two sources will be equally costly to the average U.S. customer.

If the cost of gasoline exceeds and remains above that of other sources of energy (and it will happen sooner or later) people will start utilizing other options.

[CORVETTEDUDE]

In the U.S. the price of electricity ranges from $0.08 to $0.28 per kilowatt hour. The average is 11.58 cents per kwh.

The energy density of gasoline is 36.59 kilowatt hours per gallon. At $4.00 per gallon that amounts to 10.93 cents per kwh. So at $4.00/gal the energy from gasoline is still cheaper (assuming your engine is 100% efficient at extracting all the stored calories) than the energy that comes out of your wall sockets. When gasoline reaches $4.24/gal cents the two sources will be equally costly to the average U.S. customer.

If the cost of gasoline exceeds and remains above that of other sources of energy (and it will happen sooner or later) people will start utilizing other options.

Your truth Trish, with all it's rationale and sanity....is not what we Americans want to hear. Using our own oil resources while developing alternatives would be alot easier to swallow, if we'd get off our collective asses and do it. Without a vibrant economy, Hybrid Electric and potential Hydrogen powered vehicles present a far too costly option, at the moment. Coming from the car industry, supply and demand will dictate paying through the nose for the convenience of having that Hybrid in your driveway. Therefore, 'Cost of Ownership' becomes prohibitive. A Catch-22, if I've ever seen one.

PS...I was behind a Prius yesterday, on my way home from Virginia. With all due respect, the Prius (2 people and little or no load) could not get it's ass up the hill. But, it was gettin' 40-44 MPG, compared to my 19.8.

[deejay1]

It seems like some of you are upset about being told to get rid of your SUVs, V8s etc, and seem to think that the only other option is a Prius.

But it isn't, I drive a 1.4l Peugeot 207, i get about 40mpg average.

My boss drives a 3litre BMW 3 series estate, and he gets 44mpg!! (this is a diesel which you have said is hard to find so I can understand this sort of being pointless)

But my main point is that there are other more economical cars that aren't called a Prius.

[CORVETTEDUDE]

It seems like some of you are upset about being told to get rid of your SUVs, V8s etc, and seem to think that the only other option is a Prius.

But it isn't, I drive a 1.4l Peugeot 207, i get about 40mpg average.

My boss drives a 3litre BMW 3 series estate, and he gets 44mpg!! (this is a diesel which you have said is hard to find so I can understand this sort of being pointless)

But my main point is that there are other more economical cars that aren't called a Prius.

Point taken. However, you can't fit a large family into most of those vehicles and, if you did, you would not be getting that kind of mileage. I'm not sayin' everybody needs to be driving a Suburban (or comparable). Lifestyle paradigms in the USA would have to be significantlly changed. Perhaps that's a good thing....who's to say?!

[deejay1]

Yeah that's true, i'm mostly driving on my own.

Another guy i work with has a ford focus S max, 7 seater and he gets around the same as me, with family in, again though thats diesel, and he drives like a 70 year old woman.

Anyway its not up to me to try and change peoples driving habits, if i could afford the insurance i'd be driving something much faster and much less economical haha

[sunairco]

I had a Prius for a rental for a few weeks last year. With all of the in-city driving that I do, it was impressive how fuel economical it was by the stats it keeps. One thing that I can't help wondering about is the long term costs. The batteries are warranted to I think 10 years/150K or something like that. In the business I'm in, I've never seen lead acid variants, Nicad,NIMH, LI or any other battery technology have that kind of long term reliability no matter how advanced the charging and maintainance technology was. I'm wondering if these hybrids can actually sustain the original batteries that long.

[dgs925]

Easier said than done. I work outside of princeton nj and there is no affordable housing in that area for me, unless I want to live in a cardboard box...as a result I have to live 30 miles from my job to be able to afford a house that is not a POS or in the ghetto.

Gas prices higher in the previous admin? Sorry but show me proof. I don't recall paying over $4.00 a gallon when Bush was president.

Personally I think the the curren administration is in favor of high gas prices.

Get a different job or get over your desire not to live in the ghetto. There is no reason that gas prices should ever come down, so you decide where you want your money to go.