The current price of Canadian gasoline is high only to us. Europeans have been paying between $2 and $5 per litre for decades.
How can they afford to drive?
Actually, it’s simple. On an annual basis, they drive less than we do. Few Europeans would buy a home far from their workplace unless it was well served by public transport. Yet, we do so routinely. Commuting by car has become an unwelcome part of many lives.
Having handcuffed ourselves to our cars, we chose to abandon them for SUVs and pickup trucks — large, heavy vehicles forcing us to buy much more fuel than do drivers in other countries.
Canadians used to prefer smaller, fuel-efficient vehicles. We now buy as many SUVs and pickups as do Americans. Over the past decade, sales of trucks and SUVs doubled, while car sales tumbled 40 per cent. In fact, car sales dropped so dramatically that the “big three” abandoned domestic car manufacturing to concentrate on more profitable SUV, crossover and truck models.
SUVs use appreciably more fuel than cars of similar size. They mostly have all-wheel drive, a feature demanded by Canadian buyers. But all-wheel drive means extra weight to accelerate, plus fuel-burning friction caused by a complex drive train. To maintain performance, engine power had to increase; yet more fuel.
The demand for all-wheel drive was created by advertising promising greater safety. All-wheel drive does improve acceleration on snow or ice. However, it cannot improve either steering response or braking, two important factors governing safety.
I returned to Canada 34 years ago, after 20 years working abroad. In Kenya, I owned an elderly Land Rover, appropriate for a country the size of Ontario with (then) just 1,000 kilometres of paved road.
Back in Canada, I owned a series of small cars similar to those I had driven in Britain. I have never bought a vehicle that could do “everything.” When needed, I would rent a pickup, minivan or SUV, always delighted to return it as soon as possible.
I have always bought the best winter tires money could buy — my family’s safety deserves no less. Pre-COVID, we drove 18,000 to 20,000 kilometres per year, around 35 per cent in winter. We have been towed just twice in 34 years. Admittedly inconvenient, but was that worth paying 15 per cent more for fuel?
A typical small car averaging eight litres per 100 kilometres and driven 20,000 kilometres per year burns 1,600 litres of fuel — just over $2,000 at last year’s price of $1.30 per litre (but $3,200 at current prices). Adding 15 per cent to that costs $300. Over 34 years, that becomes more than $10,000 — money most people would prefer to spend on something else.
While quality snow tires are affordable for a small car, they become expensive sized for a pick-up truck or SUV. I have seen more than one Cadillac Escalade or Lincoln Navigator wearing cheap Chinese snow tires. Perhaps they all drive cautiously.
Unlike most modern cars, pickup trucks have an engine in front powering the rear axle. With a lightly loaded rear end, winter performance would be poor without four-wheel drive. Moreover, “aggressive” styling seems to be necessary for these vehicles, styling creating high aerodynamic drag. (Aerodynamic drag measures how a particular shape moves in air.) Poor aerodynamic drag is made worse by a high stance. The air under a vehicle moves with it, which is why racing cars minimize the space between the vehicle and the road.
Returning to Europe, the average fuel consumption of a European passenger vehicle is six to seven litres per 100 kilometres. The vehicles North Americans choose to drive burn twice as much. Paying European prices forces one to pay attention to fuel economy.
I had been working in Kenya (East Africa). For reasons that must have been logical in 1972, I decided to drive to my next job in Glasgow, Scotland. By the time my elderly Land Rover brought me to the U.K., it needed attention. The obvious choice should have been replacement.
Again, for reasons that may have made sense then, instead of replacing the Land Rover, I built a new engine and assembled it in the back of the vehicle. Due to the high fuel price, I replaced the original gasoline motor with a diesel.
The result was impressive. A vehicle that had burned an average of 16 litres per 100 kilometres now used just nine litres per 100 kilometres, a 40 per cent reduction. Our current 2014 Volkswagen Golf diesel is even more frugal, averaging just 5.3 litres per 100 kilometres, but easily beaten by our electric Mini, whose “fuel” costs one-fifth that of diesel.
A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I drove to Toronto for lunch with friends. I usually set cruise control at 110 km/h, a speed unlikely to attract police attention. I am overtaken often, but one pickup truck flew past as if we were stopped. I reckon the driver was doing 160 km/h.
Back home, I calculated (write to BarrieToday if you want the calculation) the pickup was burning five times as much fuel as my 2014 VW Golf TDI. As we all know, it is rare to see a vehicle stopped for speeding, but this driver would pay the equivalent of a speeding ticket every second time he drove to Toronto at that speed; no police intervention required.
However, the message I see in today’s $2-per-litre fuel price is different. We travel to Europe to admire its walkable, people-friendly cities. Perhaps we should rebuild our sprawling suburbs to resemble Europe’s compact urban centres, thus reducing our need to drive cars daily.
Barrie resident Peter Bursztyn is a self-proclaimed “recovering scientist” who has a passion for all things based in science and the environment. The now-retired former university academic has taught and carried out research at universities in Africa, Britain and Canada. As a member of BarrieToday’s community advisory board, he also writes a semi-regular column. If you have a question Peter might be able to answer or something you’re curious about, email us at [email protected].
