Yeah, as the Verizon reps made stunningly obvious[1], the average person struggles with small decimals, but making it a figure like gallons per hundred miles (or liters per 100 km like I have seen in Europe) would make it easier.
I heard a similar story to this on NPR the other day. It pointed out that the EPA already gives it's efficiency ratings in gallons per mile, which are then converted back to miles per gallon for the (not so) benefit of the consumer.
I actually really liked the idea of gallons per 10k miles. This gives a nice beefy number to think about. For instance, my 2004 Chevy Aveo uses 294 gallons per 10k miles. My dad's truck uses 625.
I think they could take it even further and just put a dollar figure on the car. Say the entire industry agrees that 15k miles a year is normal. Pick a gas price for that year and put the total cost of gas on the vehicle. At $3.50 a gallon, my car would have $1544 on the window, whereas my dad's truck would have $3281. That is a difference that is immediately obvious to everyone. They do something similar with appliances, where they list the estimated annual operating cost, which makes picking the most efficient fridge quite easy.
I heard a similar story to this on NPR the other day. It pointed out that the EPA already gives it's efficiency ratings in gallons per mile, which are then converted back to miles per gallon for the (not so) benefit of the consumer.
I actually really liked the idea of gallons per 10k miles. This gives a nice beefy number to think about. For instance, my 2004 Chevy Aveo uses 294 gallons per 10k miles. My dad's truck uses 625.
I think they could take it even further and just put a dollar figure on the car. Say the entire industry agrees that 15k miles a year is normal. Pick a gas price for that year and put the total cost of gas on the vehicle. At $3.50 a gallon, my car would have $1544 on the window, whereas my dad's truck would have $3281. That is a difference that is immediately obvious to everyone. They do something similar with appliances, where they list the estimated annual operating cost, which makes picking the most efficient fridge quite easy.
[1] http://imgs.xkcd.com/verizon_billing.mp3