View Poll Results: Man Alive, it's 55 !!
I like it and will drive 55.
3
5.17%
It sucks, count me out!
23
39.66%
OK, but limit it to something like 3 years.
1
1.72%
No limits! Let gas prices be the regulator.
21
36.21%
I'm glad I don't live in the US.
10
17.24%
Voters: 58. You may not vote on this poll
Man Alive, it's 55 !!
07-20-2008 | 04:58 PM
#27
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 2,408
Likes: 0
Except it isn't happening. The runup in fuel prices to $4+ a gallon, has decreased consumption only 3.3% in the US.
Individual transportation is the key to the american lifestyle, outside the metropolitan areas where use of some mass transit makes sense. Otherwise, the car is it. There are alot more things US consumers will give up, before they give up their cars.
Individual transportation is the key to the american lifestyle, outside the metropolitan areas where use of some mass transit makes sense. Otherwise, the car is it. There are alot more things US consumers will give up, before they give up their cars.
Second, even if the market does not react at this level, does not mean there will be no reaction in the future. We may not be at the point on the demand elasticity curve where consumption will become elastic enough; decrease more than proportional to price.
A good comparison would be the price of salt, something that we use with relatively no regard to its price (because it is so cheap). Salt could double or even quadruple in price tomorrow, and consumption would probably change less than 10% because it is so cheap to begin with. I.E. it is so far up the elasticity curve that price changes will not affect consumption. On the other hand, if prices went up 100 times (10000%), consumption would probably decrease, but not nearly proportional to price, consumption might go to 70% of what it is currently.
07-20-2008 | 05:16 PM
#28
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 1,398
Likes: 7
It will not happen in the US. The transportation methods will adapt to accomodate the geographic and socio-economic structure here, not the other away around. You aren't going to all of a sudden have millions of americans moving back to the cities because gas is $6. Instead, $6 gasoline will mean that personal transportation will move towards using the electrical grid, and away from petro-based fuels. The plug in hybrid will be the next "big thing" in the US.
07-20-2008 | 05:41 PM
#29
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 2,408
Likes: 0
It will not happen in the US. The transportation methods will adapt to accomodate the geographic and socio-economic structure here, not the other away around. You aren't going to all of a sudden have millions of americans moving back to the cities because gas is $6. Instead, $6 gasoline will mean that personal transportation will move towards using the electrical grid, and away from petro-based fuels. The plug in hybrid will be the next "big thing" in the US.
07-20-2008 | 06:07 PM
#30
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 1,398
Likes: 7
What will not happen, is the move away from individual transportation. People will drive the same # of miles, but will just have a different propulsion method to accomplish the travel distance.
I look around me, and with $4 gasoline, the shopping mall parking lots are still packed. Here we have a society where you can shop online and buy anything you want without leaving your house, yet people are still driving to the malls.
I look around me, and with $4 gasoline, the shopping mall parking lots are still packed. Here we have a society where you can shop online and buy anything you want without leaving your house, yet people are still driving to the malls.
07-20-2008 | 06:09 PM
#31
Junior Member
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 54
Likes: 0
From: Melbourne, Australia
C220 CDI with OPTIONS!
Which worries me almost as much as the gas-guzzling attitudes. The *overall* environmental impact of nickel based batteries in hybrids like the Prius vs the use of diesel are astounding ...
