FUEL EFFICIENCY * USA - Study Shows Little Progress Made Since 1920s

According to a University of Michigan study, the fuel efficiency of on-road vehicles has only improved 3 miles per gallon in the last 86 years

Michigan,USA -Automobile, by Andrew Peterson -May 7 2009: -- ... Researchers at the U of M Transportation Research Institute say that the overall fuel efficiency for vehicles in the United States was 14 mpg in 1923, and improved to 17 mpg in 2006. The researchers, Michael Sivak and Omer Tsimhoni, documented and analyzed the annual changes in actual fuel efficiency of vehicles on U.S. roads from 1923 to 2006 by using information about distances driven and fuel consumed... Using this method of determining fuel consumption, Sivak and Tsimhoni found that fleet fuel efficiency actually decreased from 14 mpg in 1923 to a low of 12 mpg in 1973. Interestingly, 1973 corresponds to the tail end of the muscle car era. After 1973, the fleet average increased quickly to 17 mpg by 1991, due to the oil embargo. Between 1991 and 2006, fuel efficiency increased by less than 2 percent (16.9 mpg to 17.2 mpg)...