Of course I would like for things to be further along then they are.... but in a way I am also glad they are not...
Glad they're not? Hey... I AM STILL WAITING ON MY FLYING CARS. Popular Science promised me I would have one by now, back when I was a child. Heartless b*st*rds...
I had a very long conversation with a gentleman today when I filled up the Insight, and the inevitable price of gas came up... he bemoaned his 18-mpg-highway SUV, which he needed to transport his family (although I noticed, but did not mention, he was driving alone, with seven empty seats). His brother travels to Europe frequently with his English wife, and the $7-8 per gallon price range is causing his inlaws across the pond to virtually park their vhicles and either walk or take public transportation. I just wonder when the USA will hit the wall and begin to turn away from low-mileage vehicles and more towards gas misers... $6 a gallon? $7? $8? So far, it doesn;t seem to make a difference. I know it's a relatively-small percentage of the total cost of driving (when you plug in depreciation, upkeep, storage, insurance, et al), but still...
His choice is to pay thousands of dollars to get a more economical vehicle (while his gas-guzzler takes a trade-in hit), or stay with what he has, and pay more for gas. He will keep his car, doing the calculus that the thousands of dollars he would have to invest in a gas-saver will cover many, many gallons of more expensive gas before he has to make that choice. I love that whole head-in-the-sand attitude... but what are you gonna do...
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Driving on down the road in my 2001 CVT, going "Boogety Boogety" ...and until avatars are provided, my car looks just like the original silver Insight on the header, above... =)
Four days ago I posted a barrel of oil had reached an all time high of $128.......today it went through $130.
boogetyboogety you don't need flying cars when the fuel that powers them is already sky high.
As I said previously its not just the cost at the pump for the individual fill up but everything else down the chain it affects.
We will just have to wait and see... and then bring this thread back and see where things are by then.... given current trends I am expecting ~$5 per gallon by ~2010 as a U.S. Average gas price.
Average sustained price perhaps. But we are a busy hurricane season away from $5 a gallon this year. We are at $3.89 nationally and there are no shortages. Stockpiles are good, crude oil isn't under a shortage. Have one bad thing happen, and gas will jump up again.
This speculation is nuts, but it is putting serious fire under people's butts that we need to do something about our oil consumption. If we could lower our oil consumption by 50%, we would lower our need of imports by 83%!!! We could become nearly self-sufficient in supply. Oil would still be pricey, but we'd have our destiny more in hand.
"His choice is to pay thousands of dollars to get a more economical vehicle (while his gas-guzzler takes a trade-in hit), or stay with what he has, and pay more for gas."
Or a third choice, which is to buy a cheap high-mpg used car and use that for all the driving when he doesn't need to haul the whole family around. Or buy a scooter, or bike more...
Five days ago $128 a barrell...yesterday $130.... today $135...Twice what it was a year ago ,and all this after the Saudi's increased production a bit.
Thought it might be entertaining to do a look back ... ~1 year latter ....
RI Gasoline is around ~$2.60 per gallon... June 12th 2009
Down from the peaks of a year ago... but up from the minimums a few months ago.
I still am not expecting to see national average prices higher than $10 per gallon before ~2020.
One thing I have learned over the last year ... The power of the Mass Consumer ... if the general public consumer continues to push for higher and better fuel economy and continues to be sensitive to gasoline prices ... that change in national mind set ... I suspect could slow down the trends from the last ~20 years of the general mass public consumer not caring enough for it to significantly effect their driving or the type of car they buy.
To be honest... I had not previously thought the general mass consumer public would be as willing to change as they have been... sure people still can do much better... but the change I have found comforting ... and it is nice to see it's effects on reduced gasoline price increases ... as well as more average MPG for vehicles nation wide ... and new HEVs and PHEVs... and REEVs... and FCEV ... etc...etc...
The attention from the peak has had some nicely positive side effects that outlived the peak itself.
The attention from the peak has had some nicely positive side effects that outlived the peak itself.
Some of those side effects, unimaginable a year ago...
Pontiac, dead
Saab, Saturn, Hummer, sold or hoping to be sold
Chrysler owned (and I mean owned) by Fiat (!)
GM in bankruptcy, ten of thousands unemployed
I own a bunch of car company woes (as a stockholder/tax payer)
And I still don't have my flying cars...
Filled up the Insight at a Chevron station/truckstop off I-20 in Longview, Texas on Thursday... An overalled Good Ol' Boy (picture him in your mind... yes, yes, that's him), came over and said "What kinda mileage you get in that thing?" so I invited him to look in my cabin at the readout (595 miles, 60.1 MPG after mostly 70 mph driving)... and I thought he was going to spit his false teeth out in my nice clean car. He ambled back to his Dually and drove off in shame, probably going home to kick his basset hound for no good reason...
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Driving on down the road in my 2001 CVT, going "Boogety Boogety" ...and until avatars are provided, my car looks just like the original silver Insight on the header, above... =)
Well Moller hasn't yet collapsed from the economic down turn... but it has been taking a beating ... with it's stock price down ~84% from share price in May 2008... currently only at ~$0.16 per share.
I guess there just aren't allot of people currently willing to invest in flying cars.
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Nice report from 60 minutes ... I find it amusing how complex supply and demand can get... and how interconnected so many things are.
£1.06 per litre or £4.75 per Uk gallon or £3.95 adjusted for US gallon.
Fuel is still only a small part of cost of vehicle ownership.
Depreciation is by far the biggest hit.
Poor Russ, (someone I work with) he paid £33,000 for a new Volvo cabriolet, 3 years later the Dealer offered £8000, the car was low mileage and still like new
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Re: Global Gas Prices
