Also, The US consumes 20,517,000 barrels, thats 3,261,587,490 Litres per day. compared to Australia's consumption of 858,000 barrels a day.

And gasoline is relatively affordable here in the USA -- only about $2.80 USD/gallon. Diesel costs about 0.10 more.

I see a majority of large passenger vehicles every day. Even Nissan no longer sells a "small" truck here -- all the trucks are now "mid-size". And we have no small cars here, the smallest being "niche" cars like the Miata and the Mini. A few people are buying hybrids, but they still use a gallon of gas every 30-70 miles. I hear so many people saying they can't wait until they can afford a luxury seven-passenger SUV.

The best future for high octane fuel for our combustion engines would have to be CNG compressed natural gas. Australia steals it off East Timor and sells it to China and Japan at 1 or 2c per litre. The only problem is storage as it needs more volume and tank size would be too heavy. Unfortunately we are at the beck and call of oil still in the 21st century.

LPG well....
http://www.industry.gov.au/assets/documents/itrinternet/LPG_Fact_Sheet-updated_%2029_April_0520050503091536.pdf
you make sense of it

I never understood what it is with some of u americans... most of u drive around in big SUVs whit one person in the car... It seems like they want to be more "safe" but is it realy safe when everybody drive around in 2 tonns og steel? offcourse I dont think that u duds here is like that...

I was listening to something about this on the J's the other day, they reckon we have reached "peak oil production", which means that as reserves slowly dry up & demand increases (Remember China has a couple of billion people with aspirations to own motor cars) that oil prices will continue to increase.
The good news is that it will only increase untl the point that other means of obtaining / extracting oil become economically viable & reserves such as the tar-sand deserts in Canada can be exploited....... But I reckon Roll on alternative energy...... I mean c'mon how many times do you hear stories about the brilliant inventor who has his intellectual property brought out by the major oil companies???

98 octane is $152.9! And My S/C A sreries drinks like a V8.
I believe the solution lies in alcohol. (NO, not drowning your sorrows in it) Alcohol can be made from renewable resources, such as vegetive matter and the like. In Brazil where they have a surplus of sugar, they run a large portion of their national fleet on the stuff. Because it can be made so easily, govts discourage it's use. If people made their own fuel, the loss of road tax would mean the economic collapse of every govt in the world.
People always say that oil companies put the stop to alternate energy ideas. However, govts have just as much to lose as the oil boys, and are equally, if not even more crooked..

Its really just a status thing, IkLoma. Someone in the UK would buy a flash Benz or BMW if they could afford it....and a person in the U.S buys a giant SUV or well-optioned truck as a symbol of their wealth.

Most Americans drive around in something like a Toyota Camry or Ford Focus, though.

Quote:Ha, remember that Camry is a very large car by standards of most of the world. The number one selling vehicle in the USA is Ford F-150 truck, most used for daily commute (not for commercial use). I'm sure at least half the cars on the road are larger than Ford Focus. Camry is/was #1 car, before that Taurus (a much larger Ford than the Focus) but even then more F-150s were sold.

I see it every day in Seattle metro area. In other states, larger cars are even more popular (e.g. Texas). I can't speak for Wisconsin, never having been there.

Yes, some people buy large vehicles for status, but not all. Some buy them for perceived safety, other for the feeling of 'control' they get by having a large tall powerful vehicle. Yet others buy them because they can. There is much traffic at night and on weekends, and no apparent reduction of driving miles. I'm sure a few people are cutting back, but I doubt if many other than young drivers.

CNG / Propane might be a way to go. There's alot less BS that goes into making CNG, since it comes right out of the ground nearly ready to use. So the price may stay lower. They also pollute way less. And Propane has an octane of at least 108. And your oil never gets dirty.

I'm converting to propane as soon as i get all the parts together. Not cuz it's cheaper, but it's easier to use with a turbo...

I don't know what it is with people here in the states and their giant cars. People here tend to lease these big expensive cars, so maybe enough $60 fillups and they'll opt for something smaller.

An A15 will get 20+ mpg with even the most poorly tuned weber at 80+ mph.

Quote:Not too difficult to understand ... we can afford it. What's wrong with that? We have wide roads. Easy credit. And as already pointed out, gasoline in USA is cheaper than in most countries.