From:	Quicksilver <jhurley1@******.STEVENS-TECH.EDU>
Subject:	Re: Problem with Drone Statistics
Date:	Thu, 28 Sep 1995 09:22:17 -0400

On Thu, 28 Sep 1995, Robert Watkins wrote:
> Gurth wrote:
> > Vehicle stats in SR on the whole make little sense, if you ask me. One of
> > the best examples is fuel consumption: 75 km per liter?! I used to have a
> > 50cc bike that did about 25 km/l, and that is a _lot_ less than most
> > modern cars and motorcycles; you're not telling me that in 2055 cars have
> > about one-fifth the fuel consumption they have now...
> Hmm... now, I get on average about 12 km/L in my car. Now, what was the
> fuel consumption like in a car 40 years ago?
> Given another 60 years worth of engine design, and more efficient fuels,
> that would be feasible.
> And who says it's petroluem? A hydrogen-fueled car today can get something
> like 30 km/L, I think (I saw a review in a "Popular Mechanics" mag my
> brother had). Of course, a litre of hydrogen is a bit more voluminous than
> a liter of petrol.
See _Shadowplay_: The main character in there, (the budding shaman)
makes a getaway in a 1996 (? I don't remember exactly) Corvette. Anyway,
he looks at the speedo at one point, and wonders if it is boasting, as he
doesn't beleive that a car could even get up to about 2/3 of the top end
of the meter. Then he comments, to himself, that this was "just before"
fuel-efficiency and emmisions-control laws came into being. This is
probably FASA's explanation....

Remeber, one of the ways to decrease emmisions is to increase the amount
of fuel completely burnt; ie fuel economy. Furthermore, most vehicle
speeds have gone way down. Compare the top speeds of most of the
vehicles to those of today. (Multiply by 1.2 to kph, multiply by .6 to
get mph. Even a Blitzen tops out at 150 or so, and that has claim to
being the fastest land vehicle in the game.)