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- Mar 5, 2008
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I don't know the exact numbers, as I imagine they're almost impossible to calculate, but it's almost certainly a much larger amount than would be saved. Think about this: The average person drives approx 12k miles per year. A car that would have gotten 18mpg would thus use 666 gallons of gas per year. A new car getting 22mpg would use 545 gallons of gas per year. That's 121 gallons saved/year.
When you think about the massive amount of energy that goes into extracting and creating the metal, pounding it into shape, building the car, doing the interior, painting the thing, shipping the car to the dealership, etc. it's certainly far more than that.
But this does not take certain things into account, such as the fact that people need new cars periodically, this is putting them into new cars faster, and putting them into models with better gas millage. Those factors and others make it impossible to really figure out the exact things, but I do think we come out ahead.
But that's not what it was sold to the public as.
And that is not all it is, but I am liking the result on a personal level.