What if our cars told us how much each mile costs us almost like a taxi cab meter? Would that make drivers more conscious about how much they are driving? Right now, our cars tell us how many miles we've traveled. The fancier cars tell us how many miles per gallon we're getting, but we don't necessarily associate the cost per mile unless we actually take the amount we spend on gas and divide that by the miles traveled. Even then, we don't see maintenance costs, insurance, etc. added to the picture.
What if, our car's console told us how much each trip costed? For example, if we knew:
Gas = $3.00 / gallon
Car's Fuel Efficieny = 20 mpg
Then cost per mile = $0.15/mile
If we took a 20 mile trip, that would be $3.00. Add in the return trip, and suddenly your little outing becomes a $6.00 venture. Would that make you think twice about driving?
Throw in maintenance and insurance costs, and suddenly cost per mile goes up. I personally would really love to see manufacturers start doing this. It would make everyone much more sensitive to how much they are driving. Of course car manufacturers would have to figure out some way of allowing drivers to input the cost to fill up each tank. Pretty simple fix to raise awareness I think.
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
What If Our Cars Told Us How Much It Costs Per Mile?
What if our cars told us how much each mile costs us almost like a taxi cab meter? Would that make drivers more conscious about how much they are driving? Right now, our cars tell us how many miles we've traveled. The fancier cars tell us how many miles per gallon we're getting, but we don't necessarily associate the cost per mile unless we actually take the amount we spend on gas and divide that by the miles traveled. Even then, we don't see maintenance costs, insurance, etc. added to the picture.
What if, our car's console told us how much each trip costed? For example, if we knew:
Gas = $3.00 / gallon
Car's Fuel Efficieny = 20 mpg
Then cost per mile = $0.15/mile
If we took a 20 mile trip, that would be $3.00. Add in the return trip, and suddenly your little outing becomes a $6.00 venture. Would that make you think twice about driving?
Throw in maintenance and insurance costs, and suddenly cost per mile goes up. I personally would really love to see manufacturers start doing this. It would make everyone much more sensitive to how much they are driving. Of course car manufacturers would have to figure out some way of allowing drivers to input the cost to fill up each tank. Pretty simple fix to raise awareness I think.
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2 comments:
Actually, you can get this info now on the edmunds.com website. They call it "True Cost to Own", and it takes into account all the main costs of a car over five years, including an estimate on repairs. If anyone is interested, here's the page:
http://www.edmunds.com/reviews/tco/2006/index.html
Anonymous, I've known about the True Cost @ Edmunds, but I think it'd be really interesting if the car told you exactly how much each time you drive to the mall costs. Just to raise awareness. Thanks for the comment.
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