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Discussion (88 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews
American households spend 16% of their income on transportation, while European 11% on average.
https://itdp.org/2024/01/24/high-cost-transportation-united-...
In absolute numbers the gap is considerably wider due to differences in salaries. And all that while cars and fuel are significantly cheaper in the US.
In the co-working space I rent there are around 50 parking spots and half as much bicycle stands. In the warm period between the solstices the latter is packed and I have trouble finding a stand.
I started cycling mostly because they removed the free gravel parking area not counted in the usual spots, but I've found I don't miss driving as much as I thought I would.
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php...
If heating oil is still a thing where you are, compare its prices to diesel (especially historically). They’re nearly the same product, the difference is almost entirely fuel taxes.
If you’re caught running red diesel on a normal carriageway, the penalty can be steep.
Anecdotal reference, my children's school is roughly 3 miles, so I spend a gallon of gas every day with 2 round-trips.
That number was zero in Netherlands because all schools are either walkable or bike able.
Supermarkets and restaurants are 5 miles away easily.
Heck, my neighbor (door to door) is 0.4 miles.
You get 12mpg?
It's the USA, so he's probably dropping the kids to school in a pickup truck...
Is that right? That seems absurdly high even for a large ute.
My last commute in Germany was 1.5 hr one way and some of my colleagues had 2.5 hr commutes. Hybrid hours though.
12mpg! What do you drive?
Whatever shortcomings there are in US society, it's not perfect in the EU either. That US freedom and infrastructure looks OK to me.
This weird jingoism serves no one.
Possibly the EU is pulling ahead on price per mile now with the shift to EVs.
(household elec is about 30-35c/kWh, public charging stations for electric cars often charge 60-70c/kWh, no joke, although I think some vendors now offer 40c charging with a subscription)
If they did all their charging at 70 they'd probably lose on cost to a US car (or a German diesel) but be equal to a German petrol car.
I think Germany has a cultural thing with smart meters which are mandatory for the ultra cheap charging available in many EU countries but it appears that you can get still those rates in Germany and pay about half what you quote, expanding the gap with the average US cost per mile.
I’ve got a Prius Prime and only at around $4+ a gallon does it start to become cheaper to charge than just use gas since the gas engine is so efficient.
This is from a recent PG&E bill from my house:
Peak pricing: 0.48575 delivery + 0.14920 generation = $0.635 kWh
It seems to have gone down a bit this year though. These are the numbers from 2024:
Peak pricing: 0.53 + 0.183 = $0.71 kWh
We don't have cool trains and double-deckers that you guys are accustomed to. Different can of worms, I know. Our own doing.
That's dirt cheap.
A lot of Europeans do drive as much as Americans do, like me and truckers etc. Having 2,34 a liter here in NL makes that a pain in the arse.
Also: using more fuel on average doesn't invalidate that American fuel, compared to Europe, is dirt cheap.
Edit: also wanna add there are many 'American' cars on the road here, like Ford F-150s etc. They are imported, but have the same fuel consumption as the US variant, as being the same as the US variant.
I'd say the Netherlands is the exception here, almost all such cars that I see on the roads (mostly in France) are from the Netherlands, along with some from Belgium.
They are also mostly driven by maniacs apparently.
Optimistically, it drinks about 11L per 100KM. Stop and go will severely increase consumption.
It's a large car to you, but it's kind of midsize here.
[1] - https://thehonestsorcerer.substack.com/p/the-oil-price-myste...
https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=W...
A bit of exaggeration there.
Also will be interesting what happens when the SPR runs out.
Make $200 per gallon of diesel? This has the potential to collapse entire economies. Shipping will be more expensive, which will in turn make everything more expensive. Food will be more expensive too, tractors use diesel. Few things don't depend on diesel at some point or another.
Tax only the fuel used by cars? Many people still need their car to work, not every job can be remote, at $200 a gallon, you may as well quit, unless you get paid the difference, which again will increase the price of things.
Maybe a few decades from now, if could be $200 a gallon without breaking everything, but certainly not now.
They can keep taxes on refined petroleum products low in order to not destroy the present economy, while simultaneously fostering a budding renewable energy industry. USA is the second largest producer of renewable energy in the world behind only China. California + Texas by themselves rank 6th in the world.
Ohh wait…
I suspect the price will be directly subsidized to keep folks happy. Since we’re in wacky world this subsidy will be inconsistent depending on where you are.
Blue States will be left with gas going to 6$ or more and Red States will probably have prices subsidized down to 4$.
That one alone is over $100 per person per year, so we all paid extra, even those who don't drive.
Even with all that we're still at $4/gal.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/07/08/trum...
Looks like the gas stations are selling at cost or taking a small loss.
Oh wait.