Washington Republican Wants to Force Us to Save Fuel Costs
January 29th, 2007 at 10:24 pm
January 29th, 2007 at 10:24 pm
On The Hill’s Congress Blog, Representative Dave Reichert (R-WA) extols the virtues of raising the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. Among them:
The potential savings the bill would offer consumers are enormous. Buyers of large SUVs and pickup trucks would save $2,000 in fuel costs over the life of the vehicle, even after paying the additional costs of the new technologies. Families buying minivans would save over $1,000. And these savings were calculated assuming gasoline cost $2 per gallon. At today’s prices, the savings would even greater.
If that were all true, why would we have to be forced by government to buy these vehicles? I don’t think anyone is feeling so charitable towards oil companies right now that they would deliberately buy a gas-guzzler over a more efficient car with similar performance characteristics. I think Rep. Reichert should show his work. It would be interesting to see what he shows for the life of a vehicle and the costs of new technology.
With Republicans like these, who needs Democrats?
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January 29th, 2007 at 10:40 pm
$2000 savings over the life of an SUV is a spit in the wind. A drop in the bucket. One easily spends more than $2K in tires and routine mantenance over the life of a vehicle. People who can afford to buy SUVs and can afford all the added interest of a loan, are not going to be influence that much by a mere $2K of savings.
As for me, I drive a truck because I sometimes like to haul things without having to beg someone for the use of their vehicle, or rent one. I can easily justify an extra $2K in fuel costs when compared to a range of other costs I might incure over the life of such a vehicle.