200,000 miles - a look back at what it meant (insane....)

[The Straight Story]

Someone correct my math, this is just too insane to be right.....

My jeep is turning over the 200k mark today (1 mile to go). And it got me pondering.

For the sake of this (to keep it as simple as I can):
20mpg and a 20 gallon tank.

200,000 miles @ 20mpg = 10,000 gallons of gas
2.30 a gallon (today) would be $23,000 in gas (yeah, I know gas was cheaper back when I bought it, way cheaper)
10,000 gallons / 20mpg = 500 fill ups (so at least that many trips to the gas station)
10 yr old jeep, 20,000 miles per year driven (more some years, less others - cross country trips some years)

Avg time to fill tank, pay, screw cap back on, etc 3 minutes.
1500 minutes total (500 fill ups * 3) - 25 hours sucking fumes while I pumped.

At todays prices, in a jeep getting 20mpg, driving 20,000 miles a year would cost $2300.
54 miles a day for 365 days.
Roughly $200/month in gas (191 and change)

Again - I know gas was way cheaper back when I bought it. But if I bought a new one today, in 10 years time at today's prices this would be pretty accurate.

If I bought a car getting 40mpg, all the $$ above would be halved.
I would also cut fuel usage by 5000 gallons.
Or, for the same cost I could drive twice as far as I am now.
So instead of 50 round trips across country (Ohio to CA ~ 2000 miles one way) I could take 100 such trips. For the same price.

If there are 10 million SUV's on the road in the US getting the same mileage (for sake of argument) and they all switch (and had my same numbers) then over 200k miles we would save 5000 gallons of gas * 10,000,000 = 50,000,000,000 billion gallons (over 10 years, using myself as an example still).

from here:
http://www.usctcgateway.net/tool/

Gallons of Gasoline

Average heat content of conventional motor gasoline is 5.253 million btu per barrel (EIA 2002a). Average carbon coefficient of motor gasoline is 19.34 kg carbon per million btu (EIA 2002b). Fraction oxidized to CO2 is 99 percent (IPCC/UNEP/OECD/IEA 1997).

Carbon dioxide emissions per barrel of gasoline were determined by multiplying heat content times the carbon coefficient time the fraction oxidized times the ratio of the molecular weight ratio of carbon dioxide to carbon (44/12). A barrel equals 42 gallons.

5.253 mmbtu/barrel * 19.34 kg C/mmbtu * 0.99 * 1 barrel/42 gallons * 44 g CO2/12 g C * 1 metric ton/1000 kg = 8.78*10-3 metric tons CO2/gallon

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I am tired and I don't feel too well today, so if I messed up the math point it out please :)

[MADem]

1. My car is 20 years old.

It gets 33 highway.

It's got less than 67K miles on it, and runs like a champ.

I'll keep it until it dies.

[Selatius]

3. Wow, you only have 67K on it? BTW, what kind of car is it?

Your engine, if it only has 67K on it, should be in very good condition. Just keep up on regular maintenance, oil changes every 3,000 miles, etc. and the engine block itself should last you well into the next decade if not longer.

[MADem]

7. I change the oil faithfully. It has a few dents, but mechanically, I let

nothing go. And I did paint it awhile back, so there's no rust. It's been paid for for eons. It's not my only car, but the one I use most often, because I just LIKE it. Has a champion air conditioner, it's peppy, and it sips gas.

It's a Pontiac Sunbird--not the jazziest car in the world, but for some reason, when I whip up behind people, they think it is bigger and badder than it is. It has a muscle car face.....and a Pinto ass!

[SoCalDem]

4. Our 91 Accord EX has 150K and runs like a new car

I fill it once a month..:)

my husband's poor little dodge truckie (1988) has 200K on it and it costs about $300 a month in gas for his commute (but he gets a $350 a month gas allowance :).)

[Selatius]

2. Iraq supposedly has 200 billion or somewhere higher than that.

50 billion is one fourth of that amount if we take 200 billion at face value. That's gigantic.

[skids]

5. Terrific perspective.

I've often wondered exactly how much time and effort we waste as an aggregate gassing up our cars at a filling station. Not to mention the side-trips to get to a gas station when there isn't one nearby. And the amount of maintanence required for a gas vehicle as opposed to an EV.

Really, we spend a whole lot of time being a slave to internal combustion.

People never seem to factor this in when they pooh-pooh gas saving vehicles or EVs.

[The Straight Story]

6. Indeed, and I did not factor in

drive time to get to gas station (the closest one to me is 1 mile away, so I can avg out how many miles I drive to just get gas and what that costs), waiting in line for a pump, time spent driving to gas station (round trip for me is 2 miles @ 35mph, 500 trips is 1000 miles total, at 35mph so maybe 28 hours driving time - not to mention how much gas overall it took to get gas).

It is all not necessarily bad, but it is interesting.