Cost of 15,000 Miles of Gas in an Average Car

Via BadlyDrawnJeff, Coyote Blog and Carpe Diem.

11 Responses:

1. Troeltsch Says:
   July 11th, 2008 at 9:11 am

   how does one judge per capita disposable income? that seems like a rather tough number to measure. additionally, it would be nice to know how the fleet mpg tracked before 2004, as that could give some indication of whether the static assumption is valid. I have no idea how much the Prius impact contributed to fleet mpg — probably negligent — but if had some effect than the climb from 2004 on would be more impactful than it seems.

   Ooh, ooh, also note this is for passenger cars. Remember that SUVs and light trucks aren’t typically categorized there as of some point in the 90s, and aren’t Ford F-150s one of the most popular vehicles around? So the fleet of commuting cars is likely a whole lot more expensive than it seems.

   This graph raises more questions than it answers. In fact, does it answer anything at all?

   [.]

2. DoorFrame Says:
   July 11th, 2008 at 9:18 am

   I have no idea how disposable income is judged.

   The impact of the Prius would blunt the impact of the tail end of the graph, not increase it. Any increase in mileage from hybrids would make the tail end of the graph flatter, making it less, not more, impactful.

   I don’t know about trucks.

   [.]

3. DoorFrame Says:
   July 11th, 2008 at 9:24 am

   I added two new links to the original post showing the sources for the graph (I neglected to include them initially).

   Also, MPG numbers come from the feds: http://www.bts.gov/publications/national_transportation_statistics/2005/html/table_04_23.html

   It looks to me like light trucks are not included.

   It’s not clear where the disposable income numbers came from originally, but the recent source is an economics PhD professor.

   [.]

4. Lorelei Says:
   July 11th, 2008 at 10:07 am

   I don’t think “light trucks” were ever in the same category as cars, though I’m not really up on federal automotive categorization history. (Surprisingly, considering my mix of jobs.)

   Is this an argument that people should STFU about gas prices? Because I agree, but more because it’s entitled and irritating than because of any statistic.

   There’s something in the news at least once a week about how Detroit is losing money on big vehicles, so you can assume the Ford F-150’s popularity is dropping fast.

   [.]

5. DoorFrame Says:
   July 11th, 2008 at 12:09 pm

   It wasn’t really an argument for anything, I just thought it was an interesting stat.

   Though, I agree, that discussing gas prices isn’t at all worthwhile most of the time. Sure, it’s higher than it used to be, but it’s still just a price, not an obligation. If you don’t want to pay for it, travel fewer miles or stop using cars.

   Gas costs what it costs. Just the same as everything else. People don’t complain about the cost of diamond rings…

   [.]

6. Troeltsch Says:
   July 12th, 2008 at 12:11 am

   hear hear!

   [.]

7. Walrus or Eggman? Says:
   July 12th, 2008 at 12:14 am

   While I agree you should just buy a more fuel-efficient vehicle and/or drive less, I will make a few observations…

   1. The ratio to disposable income wouldn’t reflect the fact that the wages of the average consumer have stagnated, but there are more millionaires and billionaires in the US than 1990 and the rate of salary increase is disproportionate across the spectrum. So, while there is more wealth in this country and therefore, disposable income has increased per capita, the average consumer’s disposable income has not increased as dramatically.

   2. Note that the curve has made a u-turn in the past 7 years. Now, I have not studied this in depth so I can’t definitively say there is direct correlation, but that would coincide with the Bush presidency and the ensuing Iraq War, the rapid increase of US trade deficit with China (ergo China’s rapid industrialization), a significant increase in oil company profits and (don’t scold me) the provision added to the “Commodities Futures Modernization Act of 2000 [CFMA]” referred to as ‘the Enron loophole’.

   3. While I haven’t investigated the government’s numbers, I would suggest that no one take anything posted by this administration at face value. Several of the .gov sites have been proven to have ‘doctored’ info on them.

   4. Oil prices affect you beyond the amount you drive and the type of vehicle you drive. Unless you eat only locally grown and/or raised food and buy only locally produced products, the cost of gas is factored into every expenditure you make because it is shipped. The reason people complain more about it than the cost of diamond rings is that diamond rings are truly unnecessary but gas prices, even if you walk everywhere, will have an impact on your life.

   Here’s a site that compares the history of oil prices in today’s dollar value…
   zfacts.com/p/35.html

   Here’s a site for oil company profits compared to Fortune 500 companies…
   you.presscue.com/node/337

   Here’s one for oil company profits compared to gasoline prices…
   http://www.swivel.com/graphs/show/9289404

   And oil company profits now and before the Iraq War…
   energycommerce.house.gov/Investigations/GasPrice.2007firstquarter.graph.pdf
   and…
   http://www.oilwatchdog.org/articles/?storyId=10827

   Extrapolation is your friend.

   [.]

8. DoorFrame Says:
   July 12th, 2008 at 10:03 am

   The oil companies make more money because gas prices are higher, it’s hard to envision them NOT making more money when gas prices are higher. In fact, the profit margins made in the gas industry aren’t all that high:

   http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/29/markets/thebuzz/

   The average net profit margin for the S&P Energy sector, according to figures from Thomson Baseline, is 9.7%. The average for the S&P 500 is 8.5%. So yes, energy companies are more profitable than many others…but not by an inordinate amount. Google, for example, reported a net profit margin of 25% in its most recent quarter.

   The increase cost of gas is much more related to the falling dollar than to any actual change in the value of gas:

   http://www.rumorsdaily.com/2008/04/24/price-of-gas-in-euros/

   [.]

9. Walrus or Eggman? Says:
   July 12th, 2008 at 4:26 pm

   1. Comparing the profit margin of a commodity to a service is apples and oranges. Comparing it to the 500 is a better equivalent and there you can see the margin is greater.
   2. Note the graph shows that the slope of profit margin is far steeper than that of the price of gas.
   3. Of course the decline in the dollar is a factor, but the dollar doesn’t just ‘fall’. There are causes for lost value of the US dollar.

   While it is possible that the price of gas has risen simply because the US dollar is weak, that would be a rather simplistic answer. It is equally as possible (and I would suggest, more probable) that there is no single cause, but a confluence of factors (global demand increase, falling USD, disruption of production due to war, increased profit margin, unregulated trading of futures, subsidies in 46 countried including OPCs which encourage consumption and do nothing to curtail demand, etc).

   [.]

10. DoorFrame Says:
    July 13th, 2008 at 8:57 am

    Ahmadinejad’s on my side!

    http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080617080043.afcygse0&show_article=1

    [.]

11. Walrus or Eggman? Says:
    July 14th, 2008 at 9:39 pm

    Now that’s something to be proud of!

    Your reading seems to be selective, though, since he also said this…
    “Certain hands, for political and economic ends, are controlling the price in an artificial manner,” he said.

    Ahmadinejad also said “certain powers” were keeping an artificial oil price to “fund the costs of their wars and occupations and to justify investments to exploit new sources of energy at the bottom of the oceans, at the poles and elsewhere.”

    And now the most important point….Who the @^%& thinks any statement this man makes is objective or even based in reality?

    This is a man in charge of a country with massive oil deposits, yet very few refineries so they import most of their oil. Smart guy, huh?

    [.]

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