Quote:
Originally Posted by aggie99
Quote:
Originally Posted by captain
One fact not considered is that all the vehicles on the road now will have to serve out their service life before it disappears from the highway.
If I sell or trade my big SUV someone with a need and getting a good deal will buy it. So until it is no longer servicable it will be handed down over the years. I may have made myself feel good by dumping the SUV but I haven't helped the energy problem, just added another vehicle on the highway
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Not really a good way to think of it. Yes, all these type vehicles have a lifespan and we will still probably see them for another decade but they will hit a "cost of operation" breakpoint before they become non servicable. Plus, the end result is someone down the chain will ditch a car to the salvage and depending on what your next purchase it will likely be more effiecient than that car was. so this means the net effect of you purchasing a more fuel effiecient car does have a postive gain. Yes, there is a factor of energy to create the new vehicle but that has even been greatly reduced by some manufacturers. |
You can make the assumption that they will reach a cost of operation break point. Right now finacially it makes no sence for me to take a loss on my SUV and spend X dollars on another vehicle when those dollars will buy several years of fuel. If I bought the SUV on the assumption of gas being $2.50 a gallon then a $1.50 increase is actually what I have to offset now that it is $4.00. If I drive 10,000 miles a year at 17 mpg then my fuel cost increase is $882 a year. If I have a combined loss and cost of another vichele of $20,000 than I can off set the $1.50 increase for 22 years with $20,000 dollars. Granted fuel cost may continue to rise but eventually so will income.