A trend that has been noticed is that gasoline prices tend to shoot up sharply just before the onset of summer every year. I have made a quick survey among my blog readers to check out whether this is an issue and found that most people are aware of this and are upset by it.

When I asked my readers whether the increase in the price of gasoline affected their daily living, I was surprised at the various replies which I got. That people feel badly about this issue is a given. Let me share what some of the people had to say about this problem and its impact on their lives.

1) Generally, people are more careful about their household expenses, but even so, this increase in gasoline price has made a huge dent in their budget and they feel bad that they may have to deny their kids extra-curricular activities because of this.

2) They do what is the bare necessity in terms of spending. They buy the groceries, medicines and pay all the usual household bills as well as buy gas for the car.

In spite of being so careful, they find themselves short of funds. They are distraught about how they are going to manage everything under such circumstances.

3) Instead of just increasing the price of gasoline every now and then, they wish the government could take some smart measures to solve this problem once and for all. In the end, it is the citizens who suffer.

Some analysts have suggested that everyone could cut down use of at least one gallon of gas to reduce the problem, but they feel that this is not really going to help their situation.

4) They have decided to forego their yearly vacation to some nice destination this year because they simply cannot afford to buy expensive airline tickets and still have enough left over to enjoy the vacation. They will go to places nearby and keep it simple and inexpensive.

5) They have started to use the public transport system to cut down expenses but even so, the rise in price of gas causes a corresponding increase in the cost of other products and so they are still considerably affected.

Recently people started circulating emails asking people to boycott purchasing fuel on a particular date to send a harsh message to the oil companies who are indiscriminately increasing the price of gasoline without considering the impact on the middle class.

Some have decided to comply and when they went over the next day to fill gas in their vehicle, they found that the price had gone up further by five cents. Obviously, the oil companies did not get the message.

We’ve been hearing that many refineries have been affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita and other issues and problems that they have.

But people are suffering tremendously and they have started to hear reports of people filling up gas in their cars and simply driving off without paying to show their ire. While they may not be able to appreciate their rationale for the rising prices of gasoline, this kind of ‘drive off’ will not really help.

All that will happen is that the employees of that particular gas station will be chucked out of their jobs for not being more vigilant.

Employees have no control over the price issue and they will end up suffering financially if we do unfair things of this kind. Let us stop feeling defeated. Instead, let’s take some smart and proactive measures to beat the rising cost of living.

Let us look at all the ways we may be wasting energy, food and water and cut that as a first step. The next step should be to actively do what we can by way of conserving the soil, water and air quality as this is most important.

We must control the way we go out garbage disposal or disposal of toxic wastes as these ruin the environment in which we live and ultimately it is we who will be paying for it. After all if we keep on depleting all the world’s resources without replenishing them, what will be left for our future generations?

Recent studies have revealed that car owners are becoming more aware about the fuel efficiency of their automobile. People are now starting to realize the cost effectiveness of pure electric vehicles (EV).

Having electric cars is an excellent long term solution to control expenses on the highly expensive gasoline. Though the EVs are slowly but surely gaining popularity, it is still yet to gain momentum because of the higher price and lack of battery recharging stations.

In many places, the local governments have waived off congestion tax and making these cars more lucrative purchase for the car owners. The best part is that owning an electric car though costly at first, will prove to be quite economical in the long run.

The Mitsubishi i-MiEV and Peugeot iON are the new electric cars which are about to be launched soon. It would be quite interesting to know, how much it would cost to have a pure EV versus a conventional car with an internal combustion engine. It would be wise to analyze it as per kilowatt-hour, the maintenance cost and running expenses of the cars.

Let us analyze the cost of gas, as the car runs at 30 MPH; the gas cost would be £1.84, the car will run on gas costing £6.1 per mile. If we see the efficiency of hybrid cars, these cars get energy from gasoline at an efficiency of 25%. Most of the energy is lost in auto dynamics, engine heating and resistance.

If the car uses its full potential, the same car will run 140 miles on one gallon, rather than 30 miles. The battery of an electric car will charge and discharge by using the power grid functioning at the capacity of 90%. The performance of the cars which have rear engine depends on the size as it translates the electricity in energy, also using 90% capacity.

Both Mitsubishi i-MiEV and Peugeot iON operate at over 80% of mechanical energy. Therefore, the performance of an electric car is three times more effective than gasoline powered cars. The total energy in a gallon of gas is 32.95 kilowatt-hours of energy and the usual cost is £6.1 which makes a trip of 100 miles worth just £2.

Compared to gasoline powered cars, electric cars run on less energy and drive the same distance and the cost of the fuel is much less. This is the biggest advantage of green vehicles in general and electric car in particular.

The running cost of an electric car is much economical when compared to petrol or diesel cars. It would not be wrong to say that you can actually run your electric car just by spending two pence per mile. The road price of Mitsubishi i-MiEV is £24,045, in addition the grant which value around £5,000.

The immediate competitor of the i-MiEV is the Nissan Leaf, which as per the statics is the market leader with the online price tag of £23,990. The manufacturers provide a personal contract buying structure, with an initial down payment of £3,850; you can own the vehicle with monthly installment of £397.

The cost will come to total of £28,204, which is more by £4,214 as compared to hundred percent payments at the time of purchase. Nissan has more functions and additional facilities as compared to i-MiEV.

Costing wise, owning a pure electric car is still on the high side compared with a conventional vehicle. But I’m sure with the economy of scale, the cost of EV will come down sooner or later.

As prices of gasoline continue to rise, increasing the fuel mileage is very important to cut down on fuel costs. It is therefore important to focus not only on car maintenance but also find ways and means to improve car mileage or fuel economy.

Fuel economy is the energy efficiency of a specific vehicle and is expressed as a ratio of distance traveled per unit of fuel consumed. Fuel economy is expressed as miles per gallon (mpg) in the US.

If the car gives more mileage per gallon or is more fuel-efficient, it will help in reducing expenses on gas and will allow driving longer distances without the need to stop on the way for filing up gas.

One of the methods to achieve better fuel efficiency or ‘gas mileage’ is to first review the way one drives. For instance, if someone drives at a speed above 60 miles per hour on a highway, there will be an extra consumption of gas by around 25%. Those driving in town at a speed of 40 miles per hour or less will be able to reduce consumption of gas.

While driving in town, it is not possible to maintain a constant speed. One has to stop the car and start again at regular intervals and sometimes, because of traffic bottlenecks, it is necessary to slow down the car and pick up the speed again in different places. All these factors will contribute to increase in gasoline consumption.

Nevertheless, there are ways to minimize these problems and improve fuel efficiency. When starting the car, there is a need to accelerate to ignite the engine, which results in consumption of extra gas. A careful planning and maintaining proper speed eliminates the need to stop at traffic lights and this in turn reduces fuel consumption.

Those having an automatic car can put the car into neutral gear at traffic signals in order to save on fuel. There will be less consumption of gas, if the car is put in neutral gear when driving downward as in that position engine will not require gas.

One can drive based on the concept called ‘push and glide’. In this method, the driver accelerates the car up to the full speed limit and then allows the car to coast along without the need for the gas till it slows down. When it travels smoothly on the road there will not be any consumption of gas.

Based on these concepts, one can save gas consumption to a large extent. There is plenty of scope to find different ways to improve car mileage by increasing fuel efficiency and it is a continuous exercise one can develop by experimenting with various options. These include cruise control, avoiding braking wherever possible, inflating the tires properly, tuning the engine from time to time and checking the condition of air filter.

In certain situations, using cruise control minimizes fuel consumption by maintaining a constant speed. Braking wastes a lot of energy generated from gas already burned and accelerating after braking consumes more gasoline than driving at a constant speed.

Properly inflated tires can decrease fuel consumption. Inflating tires correctly will prevent uneven wear and tear. A properly tuned up engine optimizes power and can considerably boost fuel efficiency. It is advisable to check the condition of engine’s air filter. A dirty air filter will decrease fuel efficiency or make the engine stall when idling.

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If you are really feeling the pinch from rising gasoline prices, why not consider converting your gas guzzler into a pure electric car? What you’ll need is a good EV conversion guide, hand tools and a small investment capital for parts and components. For more information on electric vehicle conversion, click on the link below to visit the Convert2EV web site.

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