AUG 06

"It's great to see an automaker independently shooting for these types of efficiency gains that we really need to see across the board."

Megan, seriously? This is not news. This is the same song.

In 15 years! (15 years!), a major auto company plans to increase fuel efficiency to what fuel efficiency could have been 20 years...in the past. Way to go. Way to think big.

I imagine that an Ecogeek understands that solving problems (eg., avoiding nonrenewable, polluting resources) involves not using the same kind of thinking used to created the problem. (h/t Einstein).

I know, I know...everyone's a critic. But, come on, I expect more. I expect not to read regurgitated press releases.

Dismissing small steps because they're small is a mistake. Revolutions in transportation would be great, and may be needed, but they take time, and we need to do this in the mean time.

50mpg? In 15 years ???
That sounds like a joke especially when you can buy TODAY a Prius with 60 mpg efficiency. But the again it's Hyundai.

@Megan: I gave my email as verification for this post. In return I would like to hear your response. I assume Ecogeek pays you to write stories for the public. I am the faceless public reader who demands justification from you and your publication.

@Luca Masters: I think you're missing the point.

I posted my concern, first and foremost, because the use of petrochemicals is the problem. If Hyundai claimed they would be increasing fleet fuel efficiency to 100MPG, I would still denounce claims of "progress". As an analogy, if I keep hitting my finger with a hammer, the solution of slowing the rate of hitting my finger doesn't solve the problem. My finger will still hurt.

I need to achieve the same goal either without my finger or without the hammer. That's why Einstein said, and I quoted above, "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."

Engineers need to rethink the entire process of powering transportation. Likewise, consumers must demand that those engineers, and the companies for whom they work, make those changes. I realize that cars and personal transportation aren't going away. That said, a solution must be created that satisfies personal transportation requirements while respecting the environment helps. If you have not already, read "Cradle to Cradle". They formulate the best, in my opinion, approach to solving societal/economic/
environmental issues.

Second, even if I assume that "small steps" help, the "step" of 50MPG in 15 years (15 years!) is laughable. Hyundai might not even reach that goal; they might get sidetracked. Plus, imagine what can and has happened in 15 years. In California, people have been driving the RAV4 EV electric vehicle for 13 years!

That's 13 years in the past! RAV4 drivers have not been to a gas station in 13 years, let alone used a car that might achieve 50MPG...15 years in the future.

I think your heart, along with Megan's, is in the right place. But your brains lag a little. I don't blame you, however, I blame the marketing geniuses at oil companies and automotive companies. They're smarter than you and me.

Unfortunately, society has more time, resources, and brain power devoted to products/services that destroy the environment than save the environment. Until that dynamic changes, until the system provides for a college student or entreprenuer to get rich off the next product/service that saves the environment, nothing will change. The system is getting better, but it still has lots of bias (based on all the cash housed with the bad actors).