That is surprisingly bad. My substantially larger Ram 3500 dually gets 15mpg even when loaded with 4000lb of cargo in the bed. Towing a trailer I get about 14mpg, unless there is a substantial headwind (since the trailer is much taller than the truck), that is the only scenario where it drops to near 12mpg.
The example you gave is the Ford F150 Raptor which is an enthusiast model for off roading that is extra inefficient and I wouldn’t call the Jeep Wrangler a “big SUV” but it is an incredibly fuel inefficient one with terrible aerodynamics.
I can squeeze up to 40mpg on interstate if I drive slow (under 65mph) and it's typically about 20-25mpg within the city but the ride for School specifically, I'm not sure what's going on there.
Maybe its not truly 1 full gallon so not 12mpg but a little over that like ~18mpg.
3 miles is less than 5km. Perfectly fine by bicycle. Oh wait.. I guess you have too much freedom and no infrastructure other than highways so you gotta drive and burn all the fuel, time and money.
I live in the EU: I pay at least half my income in taxes, have less freedom due to insane bureaucracy, and the infrastructure around me isn't great (highways or pedestrian/bicycle). On top of that, fuel is double what it is in the US.
Whatever shortcomings there are in US society, it's not perfect in the EU either. That US freedom and infrastructure looks OK to me.
If gas was free for EU, we'd still pay more than US for it, by the sheer amount of taxes. 25-30% of current price is gas cost itself, raw cost, the rest is taxes.
So if EU somehow magically got the same amount of gas for 100% free, we'd at most pay some 25% less than we do now, and it would still be more expensive than US.
Brother, I live in Austin. It's 40C outside and my kids are very young.
We do have bike paths over that routes but it's just not safe for my kids yet. The road they need to bike along allows up to 65mph.
In the Netherlands I just had to cross a 30km/h road (down to 20km during school hours and pedestrians always get first preference) to drop them. Netherlands is just too satisfactorily safe ♥
For context, the US is the top oil producer in the world. I also don’t know what you’re trying to say, none of the money you spend on gas goes to politicians
Its an international market, so that doesn't mean much. US producers can sell their product where they want. Its mainly taxes making it more expensive.
But that's tax. Which makes my point.
If we ever had (almost) free electricity breakthrough we'd still pay relatively the same for it. Energy is one of the most important aspects and they'll never just give it away for free, regardless of how much it costs them. Why would they? They know we need it and they know how much we're willing to pay for it.
Anecdotal reference, my children's school is roughly 3 miles, so I spend a gallon of gas every day with 2 round-trips.
That number was zero in Netherlands because all schools are either walkable or bike able.
Supermarkets and restaurants are 5 miles away easily.
Heck, my neighbor (door to door) is 0.4 miles.