Some of the highest hopes to curb oil use rest on solutions like the “plug-in hybrid” car, which is supposed to stretch a single gallon of gasoline for more than 200 miles. But that supercar won’t be on the road in large numbers for years. In the meantime, there is always the old option of improving the mileage of the regular car’s internal-combustion engine.
Which approach is likely to make the biggest difference to the environment?
Tweaking the regular car.
Raising the average fuel economy of gasoline cars around the world to 36 mpg from 26 mpg will likely save more than six times as much oil in 2030 as rolling out enough plug-in hybrids to constitute 7% of the global auto fleet. That data come from BP PLC, an oil company with a stake in the success of gasoline powered cars, but the findings agree with other studies.
Source: online.wsj.com
Recent Comments