Chuck
12-18-2006, 09:58 AM
When it's all said and done, fuel consumption is the same, but the metric system might change perceptions for the better.
The metric system expresses fuel economy in liters per 100 km - for the unfamiliar just think "gallons per 100 miles". Say you have a 60mpg car and a 15mpg truck according to the EPA. Suppose the typical real life situation is 48mpg for the car, but 12mpg for the truck. The car consumed a quarter gallon of gas more, but the truck used an entire gallon more.
The point of the illustration is when you express fuel economy in miles per gallon, it emphasises the shortfall of the fuel mizers - typically the hybrids. If it was expressed in either the metric system or estimated annual fuel consumption - the unfriendly spotlight would fall on the gas guzzlers as it should.
The metric system expresses fuel economy in liters per 100 km - for the unfamiliar just think "gallons per 100 miles". Say you have a 60mpg car and a 15mpg truck according to the EPA. Suppose the typical real life situation is 48mpg for the car, but 12mpg for the truck. The car consumed a quarter gallon of gas more, but the truck used an entire gallon more.
The point of the illustration is when you express fuel economy in miles per gallon, it emphasises the shortfall of the fuel mizers - typically the hybrids. If it was expressed in either the metric system or estimated annual fuel consumption - the unfriendly spotlight would fall on the gas guzzlers as it should.