So Chuck has been using his scooter to commute to work since June 9. His Chevy truck has been sitting in the drive collecting dirt rings around the tires for two weeks straight now.

He has logged 320 miles. Had he driven the truck for those miles it would have cost him $126 in gasoline. After burning through a free tank of gas from the dealership, the scooter has cost about $12 in fuel.

Chuck admits that he is driving the scooter more than he would had he only had the truck adding that after getting back into the truck 6 liter truck after two weeks that it felt sluggish compared to the scooter.

Scooter shopping day 1
Scooter shopping day 2
Scooter shopping day 3

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Global oil demand on the rise

The Chinese government's recent reduction in gasoline subsidies (increasing price 17%) may squash an appetite for gas guzzlers in the world's rapidly growing second-largest auto market.

Rising affluence has boosted sales of SUVs and larger cars, while also causing a plunge in demand for cheaper, more fuel efficient autos. Sales of low-cost compacts, powered by engines of less than 1 liter, fell 31 percent last year, even as industrywide passenger-car sales jumped 22 percent. Sales of Great Wall Motor Co. Hovers and other SUVs leapt 50 percent last year, twice the pace of the overall auto market. (bloomberg.com)

Multiply that by 1,321,851,888 (July 2007 est.) people with expanding incomes and and you have alot of oil consumed.

Drastic conservation is the quickest and most consumer accessible way to lower gasoline prices.

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The U.S. Internal Revenue Service increased the mileage deduction today for the rest of the year by 16 percent to 58.5 cents a mile from the previous rate of 50.5 cents because of the rising price of gasoline. The change takes effect July 1.

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The return of the Ford F-100

DETROIT (AP) -- General Motors Corp. is indefinitely halting a major overhaul of its full-size pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles as it deals with a drastic drop in sales of those products.

GM spokesman Tom Wilkinson said Thursday the automaker instead will work on more modest updates and enhancements as it shifts resources toward higher-mileage vehicles.

Ford's next big pickup development doesn't come for a couple years, when it hopes to launch a smaller, lighter and more fuel-efficient pickup dubbed the F-100.

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Have you recently traded in your SUV or pickup for a smaller vehicle?

Yes, I had to because of gas prices
--- 11.57 %
No, because I was already driving a smaller car
--- 46.05 %
No, and they've have to pry my cold, dead hands from my SUV's steering wheel
--- 42.36 % %

York Daily Record/Sunday News daily survey yesterday.
Total Votes = 380

Thanks to the 11.57% who have downsized their vehicle and reduced consumption. You have put in motion the machine that will reduce the price of gasoline for the rest of us.

You have reduced the flow of oil from a few countries that don't like us very much reducing their power over us and reduced the flow of imports over exports. A few oil companies won't make as much extraordinary profit from you and you can breath easier knowing that the smaller engine you are driving is pushing out fewer pollutants.

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U.S., hybrids still only account for three per cent of new-car sales -- SUVs are around 14 per cent.

The four-bangers account for 37 per cent of the U.S. market, up from 30 per cent just three years ago. canada.com

Cost speaks:
"For now, the easiest, cheapest way for new-car shoppers to get better mileage is to choose a model with a conventional four-cylinder engine. And they are," said Jason Rothkop, a J.D. Power and Associates analyst recently.

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A solution: build more interesting, high mileage small cars like they do other places?

"We saw a real change in the industry demand in pickups and SUV in the first two weeks of May," said Ford Chief Executive Alan Mulally. "It seems to us we reached a tipping point."

Ford now believes that the change in vehicle choice is structural, not cyclical, Mulally said.

Mulally said the company in July will detail longer-term changes, including personnel reductions. cnn.money

It seems like the "tipping point" might have been five or six years ago. Sales of Toyota's subcompact Yaris increased 46 percent in April from a year earlier, and Honda's tiny Fit was up by 54 percent. Ford's own compact Focus model jumped 32 percent.

Ford's is pumping $1 billion into it's Brazilian operations to keep the stampede going. Ford do Brasil has had 15 quarters of profit and earnings are up 72-percent over last year (autoblog.com) from building tiny flex-fuel cars like the Fiesta that run on Brazil's abundant sugar cane ethanol.

With demand increasing for its stylish new models, Ford of Europe's sales soared by an impressive 93,500 units in 2007 to a record 1,833,600, a rise of 5.4 per cent on the previous year. Market share improved to 8.9 per cent. autochannel.com

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Ford will be slowly phasing in a turbo combined with a direct injection gasoline engine across their product line in 4 cylinder and 6 cylinder engines. The updated engine technology is expected to increase fuel economy up to 20% and reduce 15% of CO2 emissions while increasing performance per liter of engine. The new technology will be available in half a million Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles annually in North America during the next five years. ford.com

Direct injection of gasoline into the cylinder allows a more precise timing of the detonation of fuel. In a computerized combination with a turbo, it breaths and squeezes a bit more energy out of a drop of gasoline.

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When I was looking for a new motorcycle, I tried to find the highest mileage scooter that was capable of not getting run over on the highway. You would think that mileage ratings for motorcycles would be more transparent, but there is no government mile per gallon standard that manufactures are required to publish with the sale of the motorcycle so it becomes a guessing game based on internet searching.

Ironically, most motorcycles with a usable/flexilble engine size really don't get very good mileage and many with huge over 1,000cc displacements rate below my Civic Hybrid which has about the same size gasoline engine (1,200cc). I was replacing a 919cc in-line 4cyl Honda that got in the 45-50 mpg range and before that a carburated 4cyl Honda that got about the same.

For most people buying a motorcycle, it is more an emotional experience of coolness and/or chrome and that is how they are marketed. It's about the ride and the "lifestyle" more than a statement of responsible fuel use.

It is assumed that any motorcycle will get great mileage and if you compare it to most four wheeled vehicles on the road 45-50 mpg is probably double. However, from the perspective of a car owner who normally gets 45-50 mpg in my car, I expect more from a motorcycle.

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I headed down to Durham, North Carolina for a graduation over the weekend. I was trying to squeeze the most mileage I could out of a 2005 Civic Hybrid with a manual transmission with 65,000 miles on it. I think 56.7 miles per gallon might be a record for me.

My secret formula: Use cruise control and set it to 65. I did have the impossible to recreate advantage of no traffic jams on Interstate 95.

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