These kind of changes have to be gradually phased in so that people and economy can adjust. Be it raised wages, living closer to work, using other means of transportation or just more economic cars. The actual fuel costs paid per kilometer driven are probably less for the average european car than for a truck in the US, as the average european car uses so much less fuel.
The US is a big place, we definitely drive more miles. But the fuel tax in Europe is high enough that the overall cost isn't necessarily dramatically higher in the US. Also, a lot of the public transit (at least in my experience) in Europe is surprisingly expensive, though that probably depends a lot on where you live and where you need to go.
I'm less familiar with the economics of it in Europe, where gas taxes are much, much higher than in the US, and there's not nearly as much road and highway sprawl.
People don't use nearly as much vehicle fuel in Europe as they do in the US.
More clearly stated, my point is that what's really needed is people to adjust their consumption downward dramatically, but the taxes necessary to cause that will be politically infeasible.
A few things of note:
1. Fuel prices are much higher in the EU, especially in the Nordics due to disincentive taxes (US gas is practically free in comparison), and we simultaneously have vast deployments of renewables and a EU-wide energy exchange that make energy cheaper (heck, electricity cost was negative again today in Denmark). This means that the EV benefit is much greater here. The US really should get their tax game together here...
2. Refueling of long-distance trucks over here are usually done in few, large highway locations that include sleeping areas to comply with driving time limits, and not city gas stations. Fewer locations to equip, making it easier to upgrade for fast charging.
3. Our 18-wheelers are usually smaller and lighter, and while road trains are used in e.g. Sweden, those are only for long-haul with the associated lower tire wear of driving at a constant speed and angle. Short-haul is usually just a light 3-axle box euro truck. But yes, there will be an increased tire-wear which offsets the fuel savings a bit.
The US could also increase the price of petrol. This would encourage the use of more fuel-efficient cars. Most European cars are way more efficient than American cars. Admittedly, this is a cultural, not a technological, problem in the US.
The most popular car in the US does half the MPG of popular cars in Europe, so petrol has been too cheap; especially when when you consider that the average person in the US drives nearly twice the distance per years compared to people in Europe. Having said that, most people in the US cannot simply reduce how much they drive as towns and cities have designed for cars as the primary mode of transport.
Fuel efficiency is a joke in American cars, excessive regulation would destroy the industry there. In most other countries people rarely get engines with over 2.0l combustion volume, sometimes as low as 1.0l. Fuel in Europe is already 2x more expensive because of additional taxes, Europe is a decade or more ahead.
41 miles per gallon is still terrible ... Ford do rather better with the cars they sell in Europe
We don't have to wonder why.
European countries tend to have lax safety and smog-emission standards. If America had those same lax standards, ceteris peribus, fuel economy would be higher there.
European countries also tend to have higher fuel prices. If America had those same high fuel prices, ceteris peribus, consumers there would select vehicles with higher fuel economy.
People drive much less and use much more fuel efficient cars in Europe. USA uses more gasoline pet capita than even Saudi Arabia, and 4-5 times what western europeans use: https://www.globalpetrolprices.com/articles/52/
Europe has higher gas prices which are another way of regulation. If the US had the same gas prices American cars would be much smaller and more efficient.
"What do you get in the place for this lower efficiency? Are American cars that much heavier? More comfortable? Faster?"
I cannot speak for everyone, but as someone who lives in the US and also spends a lot of time in Europe, there is a very big lifestyle difference at play here.
First, I have a five person family (wife and three kids) and you[1], statistically, as a European, have 1.6 children - and as a highly educated HN reader, probably less (on average).
Second, Americans move around a lot more than most europeans do. On the occasions that I have lived in Europe, I always spoke of how interesting it was that we could just "drive to St. Petersburg" or "just drive to Transylvania" or whatever, and otherwise smart and interesting european friends would look at me like I was a crazy person. It is very, very rare to meet Europeans who drive across multiple countries for leisure.[2]
So when I drive five people, weighing over 500 lbs total and accompanying luggage the equivalent of one Europe away and over two mountain ranges[3] I am going to need something more than a lawnmower engine. This is not an edge-case - this is something we do multiple times per year.
That being said, there are some very interesting cultural differences in the other direction ... once while in Denmark I saw a decent sized horse trailer being hauled by a nice, new Audi A8. Basically 100% of the driving public in the US would have considered this a gaping tear in the fabric of reality.
[1] Not you, but you on average.
[2] Zurich to Transylvania is 1800km - about the same as SF to Denver which is ~2000 km.
[3] CA to MN, for instance, over the Sierras and then the Rockies.
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