Scootn' Along
Two weeks ago I purchased a
Honda Aero 50cc Scooter. There were a number of reasons for my purchase. One was gas prices. Two was my environmental impact.
In my last car, a Pontiac Grand Prix, I was getting about 20 MPG. Another way of looking at it was that at $2.50/gallon it cost me 0.12 cents per mile I drove. With my scooter I get 85 MPG, or just under 0.03 cents per mile. In the last two weeks I’ve driven about 480 miles on my scooter. That means I’ve saved $46 so far in gas. At this rate it will take me about 35 weeks to pay for the cost of my scooter ($800). This doesn’t even take into account the cost of annual repairs and insurance. After everything, I expect to save about $3500 in one year.
The second reason I gave up my car is that I decided I needed to live what I preach. Cars are
killing our environment and we have had to declare
war on an entire region because of our dependence on oil. Guess how many people I’ve seen commuting alone in their Hummers this week? Seven! Countless others are alone in their Dodge Rams, Explorers, and Suburbans.
I do have to acknowledge that my scooter has a 2 stroke engine. For those who haven’t played with 2 strokes before, they are not the most
environmentally friendly devices out there. They have the unfortunate problem of expelling uncompensated hydrocarbons out the exhaust. In fact they are so bad that starting in 2006 the EPA is going to make them illegal to import to the US (
PDF). So while the Suburbans are using 9 times as much gasoline as I am on my scoot, I’m putting oil down the storm drains. From my point of view I’m still the better environmentalist (and in the future I’ll upgrade to either a four stroke scooter or a fuel cell vehicle).
I am actually not quite ready to give up a car completely yet. But with my extra cash I’m going to put my self on my girlfriends insurance for her car and help out with the gas a bit (her car gets 35 MPG). I don’t think I’ll need to use it just for my self much but when we go places together and/or with our dog the car will be good to have. I’m going to start working the bus more often too. Someday maybe I’ll sign up for
flexcar. Until then, keep an eye out for me on the streets, happily car free.
