Given the choice between a little economy car and a giant honking truck, if there is no price difference, which would you choose? Not many people PREFER to drive small cars--if they had, Colin Chapman would have made a lot more money.

The links provide a bit more clarity but there is research behind this. There are disagreements, without 100% agreement in literature, but 'realtime feedback' impact across a broad population seems to have a 5-15% (depending on which study, etc ...) impact. There will be drivers who, in fact, end up less fuel efficient and there are those who will be come hyper-milers getting 30+% increases in fuel efficiency. This benefits seems to track, from what I have seen, across various vehicle types.  Simply put, if there is something there that says "$XX per mile" and drivers see it drop (immediately) to "$X per mile" with very little impact on driving times, then the "average" driver starts to modify their behavior bit-by-bit.

Blogging regularly at Get Energy Smart. NOW!!!

... the social display value of the pick-up truck is having the pick-up truck ... and of course there are material advantage in the snow belt comes when the snow hits the roads and then starts to pile up ... and of course, for a small fraction of the buying public, they actually have things to put in the back of the pick-up truck to carry around.

If the feedback device is just there, rather than being an optional extra, then everyone who buys the pick-up truck will have the efficiency of their driving staring them in the face, and some will use that to drive more efficiently. Since 30% gains are possible, average gains of 5% to 15% seem quite plausible.


I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.