The average new car isn’t much more fuel-efficient than older ones. Still, to this day, the average vehicle has a range of between 20 and 30 miles per gallon, a stat which was very similar in the 1920s. How come with all the advances we’ve made in the last century is fuel efficiency the same?

Question

The average new car isn’t much more fuel-efficient than older ones. Still, to this day, the average vehicle has a range of between 20 and 30 miles per gallon, a stat which was very similar in the 1920s. How come with all the advances we’ve made in the last century is fuel efficiency the same?

In: Technology

Answer 1

Most of the improvements in fuel efficiency have been reduced to nothing by things like increased speed, comfort and safety. A modern car is 3-4 times heavier then a 1920s car and have over ten times the power. However if you instead look at smaller slower cars there are several on the market which exceeds the 100 mpg mark.