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

A lot of modern cars are overbuilt compared to old ones: they have a large engine, more passenger seating, and usually some trunk space.

A prius, considered a fairly small modern car, weighs over 3000 pounds while the Model T (the stereotypical “old car” of the early 1900s) weighed up to 1500 pounds.

This means that a modern car can be twice the weight with the *same* fuel efficiency: definitely an improvement over the Model T!

If fuel efficiency hadn’t improved, you’d have horrible fuel efficiency in the range of 15mpg because vehicle weights have gone up significantly. Instead, fuel efficiency stayed the same (debatable, but ok) indicating that engines have absolutely improved