Please add the statistic "Gallons Per Mile"

[arhorton]

I'd like to see you add the statistic "Gallons Per Mile" to this website. Posting a vehicle's fuel efficiency in "gallons per mile" would help consumers make better decisions about car purchases and environmental impact.

The standard, miles per gallon or mpg, leads consumers to believe that fuel consumption is reduced at an even rate as efficiency improves. People presented with a series of car choices in which fuel efficiency was defined in miles per gallon were not able to easily identify the choice that would result in the greatest gains in fuel efficiency.

Posting a vehicle's fuel efficiency in "gallons per mile" rather than "miles per gallon" would help consumers make better decisions about car purchases and environmental impact, researchers from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business report in the June 20 issue of Science magazine.

The current standard, miles per gallon or mpg, leads consumers to believe that fuel consumption is reduced at an even rate as efficiency improves. People presented with a series of car choices in which fuel efficiency was defined in miles per gallon were not able to easily identify the choice that would result in the greatest gains in fuel efficiency.

For example, most people ranked an improvement from 34 to 50 mpg as saving more gas over 10,000 miles than an improvement from 18 to 28 mpg, even though the latter saves twice as much gas. (Going from 34 to 50 mpg saves 94 gallons; but from 18 to 28 mpg saves 198 gallons).

These mistaken impressions were corrected, however, when participants were presented with fuel efficiency expressed in gallons used per 100 miles rather than mpg. Viewed this way, 18 mpg becomes 5.5 gallons per 100 miles, and 28 mpg is 3.6 gallons per 100 miles -- an $8 difference today.

Source:

Duke University (2008, June 20). Gallons Per Mile Would Help Car Shoppers Make Better Decisions. ScienceDaily. Retrieved September 4, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...619142118.htm#

[mathowie]

Yeah, we've been talking about that article for the past month or so internally, and considered uputting up a gallons/10,000 mile number for cars here somewhere.

The statistics we have currently hints at the findings of that study. If you look at any ~16mpg car, the box that tells you how much money you'd save if you got 1, 2, and 3 more miles per gallon will often show a fairly significant number, like up to $15 of fuel saved if you bumped 15mpg to 18mpg.

On the high mpg cars, you'll often see getting 3 more mpg will only yield a savings of a dollar or two. It quickly becomes clear that savings on the lower mpg cars is really significant as they improve while cars with over 30mpg are already doing really well.

[docutech]

quote:

"The current standard, miles per gallon or mpg, leads consumers to believe that fuel consumption is reduced at an even rate as efficiency improves. People presented with a series of car choices in which fuel efficiency was defined in miles per gallon were not able to easily identify the choice that would result in the greatest gains in fuel efficiency.

For example, most people ranked an improvement from 34 to 50 mpg as saving more gas over 10,000 miles than an improvement from 18 to 28 mpg, even though the latter saves twice as much gas. (Going from 34 to 50 mpg saves 94 gallons; but from 18 to 28 mpg saves 198 gallons)."

/quote

Well Duh! Lets not confuse everyone folks. No matter how you look at it, it is still the same thing.

[arhorton]

Hey Matt -- thanks for reading and replying to my post. I urge you to add that gallons/10,000 mile statistic you've been considering. I did notice your "Potential Savings Per Fuel-up" stat. I was surprised to learn that +3 MPG will save me about $8 for my Jeep. You're doing good work -- I'm finding Fuelly.com to be really helpful and convenient. Thanks!

[pman]

This already (or now - don't know when it showed up) appears in the basic stats. However, even though all my other stats are in miles and/or gallons, this is given as liters/100km. Maybe that could be miles/100 gallons? For most of us USians, L/100km is about as meaningful as rods/100 gills.