It's time to start thinking in terms of PMPG, people-Miles-per-gallon
With gasoline at record prices in the United States for the past several months and the economy in a downward spiral, many people who bought big SUVs and crossovers in recent years are finding it increasingly hard to afford a fill-up. As people desperately try to unload their big guzzlers in favor of something more fuel efficient, they are finding them almost impossible to dispose of. With huge gluts of unsold trucks on their lots many dealers won't accept them in trade.
There is however an alternative, car-pooling. Look around you as you drive to work and consider how many people are doing the same thing all alone. How many of those are commuting in an SUV that gets 13, 14, 15 mpg? If you have a thirst SUV or crossover consider finding 3-5 people to share a ride with. Now instead of miles per gallon, switch to measuring people-miles-per-gallon. That's number of passengers x MPG. Read on after the jump.
Gallery: 2009 Ford Flex
Car-pooling certainly has some inconvenience factors. If you are the only occupant of a 15 mpg SUV, you are getting 15 people miles per gallon. Now consider what happens if you get three other people to ride with you. Four occupants x 15 mpg = 60 pmpg. Plus you only have one vehicle to park instead of four. I recently had a new Ford Flex to review and it did surprisingly well in terms of fuel consumption. We took it on a family vacation to Northern Michigan for a week and even with all-wheel-drive, it averaged 21 mpg.
With the 40/40 second row seat it very comfortably seats six. If you calculate the PMPG with a full load, you're looking at 126 people miles per gallon. Similar results can be obtained with other SUVs. So if you find yourself stuck with an SUV you can't afford to drive and you can't afford to unload, check around your workplace for other commuters. Or check your state government's web-site to see if they have a carpool matching service like the one that Michigan has at its rideshare site.
Gallery: 2009 Ford Flex
Photos Copyright ©2008 Sam Abuelsamid / Weblogs, In
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
jeffzekas 12:25PM (7/17/2008)
Of course, people miles per gallon makes sense, but the fact is, most Americans DO ride alone. In fact, I was shocked the other day to see a crew-cab Chevy truck with FIVE people in it! Usually, I see a massive, jacked-up F150 go by, with a tiny little woman, sitting all by herself, blasting down my suburban street at 45 mph! As for carpooling: the problem is, everyone has a different work shift. There is no "nine-to-five" here, but 0600 to 1400 and 1400 to 2200 and 2200 to 0600, and then, of course, if you get held for overtime, you miss your ride! Or if your shift runs over, then your carpool partner waits 20 to 30 minutes. More sensible would be a moped or scooter... but then, once it snows, the scooter is useless. Me? I'm waiting for the Poulsen Hybrid conversion to become available, so I can convert my Bronco into a hybrid. If that doesn't happen, then my next car will be a Prius!
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Matt 12:31PM (7/17/2008)
Carpooling is noble and a good way to improve the economics of a SUV you're stuck with, but the PMPG idea is the wrong approach. By that measure, an SUV that seats 8 and gets 15mpg is just as efficient as a compact 4-seater that gets 30mpg. But what % of the time does that SUV actually carry 8 people? It's too close to the rationalization that got people into SUV's in the first place: a family of 4 ends up with a Suburban because maybe the kids bring a friend along sometime or twice a year they go on a family trip with luggage and/or gifts, or maybe they'll need to go offroad (drive over a curb), and heaven forbid they be seen in a station wagon or minivan. And then the majority of the time that vehicle carries 1 person and rarely carries more than 5 that would have fit into a midsize wagon.
We need to be basing vehicle decisions on what is needed 95% of the time instead of what might be needed 5% of the time. On those rare occasions, renting a bigger vehicle or driving two smaller vehicles is better than driving an oversized vehicle every day when not needed.
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Mike!!ekiM 5:05PM (7/17/2008)
Sir,
Why are you complicating things with a Better Formula? The goal here, obviously, is to save SUV sales, not save you money!
UH2L 12:31PM (7/17/2008)
Yes, it makes sense for the vehicle to consider PMPG, but should people have more kids to constitute the need for more vehicles that hold more people? A family with 5 kids in a Ford Flex does a lot more overall environmental damage than a family with 2 kids in a Hummer H1.
Environmentalism is not so simple. I talke about PMPG and other environmental considerations here...
http://uh2l.blogs.com/things_ive_noticed/2007/12/being-green-is.html
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Chuck 8:41PM (7/18/2008)
It depends who the children turn out to be. If the 5 children turn out to be productive members of society, then the world has benefited from the large number of children. If the 5 children become societal leeches, then yes, 5 children is a big problem.
Adam Denny 12:35PM (7/17/2008)
I think people miles per gallon is exactly right. What does better - my Toyota Sienna minvan that routinely carries 2 adults and my 5 children in it, or a Smart Car with one person in it? I don't think the difference is as huge as you might think. People should get vehicles that fit their needs. I picked the Toyota because I hope it will last longer than the other brands.
On a side note, you would think that at least one manufacturer would make a hybrid minivan, I would certainly buy it. I only buy Toyota and have had bad experiences with Ford and Dodge, but I wouldn't blink if a hybrid was an option.
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rob 12:47PM (7/17/2008)
Shouldn't that be gallons per mile per person?
Earlier blog post:
http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/06/20/forget-mpg-lets-move-to-gpm/
I got 300 gallons/10,000 miles/person on my drive in this morning. My boss with his rider got 416 gallons/10,000 miles/per person on his commute.
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Nick 2:32PM (7/17/2008)
PMPG? That's smoke and mirrors, politician's talk.
The argument is absurd. A family of 4 in an SUV still gets 1/3rd of the PMPG that a family of 4 in a Prius.
Yes, you should carpool as much as possible, but most people won't carpool with strangers....packing your vehicle with people will not make your gas guzzler suddenly efficient.
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Karl 3:50PM (7/18/2008)
Have you looked at the airline industry? They calculate about 30PMPG.
That a crazy amount of fuel.
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Matt Peckham 4:36PM (7/17/2008)
I have a Dodge Sprinter that seats 10. I drive it a lot by myself, but if it's a big road trip, I try to pool riders to get the most PMPG.
I'll be going on a trip from SC to Worcester, MA next week, and last year there were 2 of us. Not so good. This year... 7 or 8!
At 20 mpg, that's 140 to 160 PMPG! Beat that, Prius!!!
I ride my bike to work a lot to get infinite PMPG.
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Chris M 10:21PM (7/17/2008)
Well, considering that a Prius seats 5 and gets 45 to 55 mpg, that would be 225 to 275 pmpg when fully loaded.
Heck, the very worst fuel economy I ever got was on a blazing hot summer day with the AC cranked up, 37 mpg. With 5 people, that would still be 185 pmpg!
Turbofrog 7:11PM (7/17/2008)
I am thoroughly unconvinced.
A Prius seats 5. 50x5 = 250 PMPG.
This post is common-sense in the extreme, and provides no defense to SUVs. If anything it would be supportive of compact MPVs (the Mazda5 is not nearly as efficient as most European models, but it's the right direction).
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Sam Abuelsamid 8:33AM (7/18/2008)
In no way am I promoting that people should have more kids, or trying to rationalize why people should buy new SUVs. On the contrary I'm trying to be pragmatic. Regardless of what Prius lovers might think, the reality is that a lot of people are stuck with SUVs that they can't get rid of under the current economic conditions. In light of that owners of such vehicles should find the most economical use of them if possible.
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keveng 11:28AM (7/18/2008)
Have you ever tried getting 5 full grown adults in a Prius. Me and the 3 other guys in my carpool are all over 6' and we barely fit in my saab 93. As far as family vehicles, I would really love to see someone get 3 car seats in a Prius, gmafb. My wife and I use the Outlook with the kids in it 95% of the time. In addition to the carseats, where are you supposed to put a stroller? groceries?etc. This is a common indicator for the airline, bus, and rail industry. People just tend to be too environmentally arrogant. Its a lot easier to get people to listen by talking, not telling. I love this site, but a lot of people on it really piss me off.
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Rich 5:00PM (7/18/2008)
This will all get really interesting when some politician discovers he can levy huge recycling taxes on batteries from hybrid vehicles, "to offset their environmental impact". That should drop the relative PMPG by about half. Except in California, of course, where it will cost twice that much.
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