Smart Cars
Thought you’d enjoy this.
There is a sad truth behind the joke, however. Some folks think the world is so fixated on preserving the environment that large numbers of people are willing to punish themselves by driving small, cramped and dangerous cars.
Wrong.
Some years ago, the U.S. Congress objected to fuel efficiency standards based on the assumption that the standards would require cars to be much smaller and lighter and therefore more dangerous. They turned out to be wrong.
Car manufacturers have succeeded in making cars much more efficient and better performing while increasing weight and efficiency. Moreover, they have not reached the limit of efficiency.
More aerodynamic bodies have significantly increased efficiency at highway speeds. Getting more power from smaller engines and having gearing which reduces engine speeds when cruising have also increased efficiency.
The Toyota Prius has demonstrated that hybrid cars can have considerably higher efficiency than conventional cars. Even so, the Prius captures braking energy at considerably less than the maximum possible theoretical efficiency, so we can expect significant improvement.
How much the improved efficiency has reduce fuel usage is difficult to know. It may be that the improved efficiency has increased the amount of driving people do, but the improvement has still been worthwhile.