The good news is there a lot of low-hanging fruit to be gathered in terms of improving the efficiency (mileage) of the automobile. Because, up-to-now, gasoline was so cheap, nobody bothered to make cars efficient.

• Less than 10% of the fuel energy burned in automobiles is translated into forward motion of the vehicle.
• Cars weigh about 20 times more than the passengers.
• A combustion engine gets only 20% efficiency, i.e., it wastes 80% of the energy in the fuel as heat.

When you also consider other classes of transport such as trains, subways, buses and one or two-passenger vehicles, the outlook for higher efficiencies are even better. In contrast, a bicycle weighs about 1/8 of the weight of its rider, and it can get as low as 1/50.

~ Roedy (born: 1948-02-04 age: 64)