Gas Prices

[York Minster]

It's May in the US and gas is over 4 dollars. This of course means much bitching on the news and talk of how we must change our ways.

But, it's my understanding that gas is MUCH more expensive in Europe than here and it's largely due to taxes and duties and such. Isn't gas in the UK somthing like double what it costs here? Perhaps the trains are better utilized over there? If you want to go for a 4 hour drive, does it end up costing something like 100 US dollars?

Just some random thoughts on the subject.

[glennjridge]

I think they call it petrol. my cousin works at a energy company called national grid in britain,I think that however, is reffered to as gas. I'm driving to boston tomorow. its going to be painful.

[Undertaker]

We call it Petrol or Diesel.

1 u.s dollar = 60p roughly. One litre of petrol in the U.K is around £1.30. So roughly $2. In my car, it costs me about £70 for a full tank. Twelve months ago, it was around £55. Obviously short journeys guzzle your petrol quicker. If i use a full tank driving short journeys, i'd get about 220 - 250 miles out of it. When i drove to Newcastle, which is about a 6 hour return journey and around 300 miles, i'd only use half a tank.

So a 4 hour drive would use about 35% and cost roughly £25. Which is about $40.

I've probably confused the hell out of everyone now.

The Nation Grid is to do with electricity. It connects all the power stations.

[York Minster]

25 pounds should be around 40 dollars not 60, right? 300 miles on half a tank is pretty impressive.

[skyhigh]

We pay by the litre.....not by the gallon!! 1 gallon = 4.54 litres.

1 gallon of diesel last night cost me - £6.45

£1 = $1.6377

so 1 gallon of diesel cost me $10.56

Stop complaining!!

[StevePSB]

Gas goes into your fire or cooker, not your car.

I think US gallons aren't the same as ours, so comparisons won't be exact.


StevePSB

[skyhigh]

1 US Gallon = 0.832 imperial gallons

1 US Gallon = $8.79 in the UK

Still....stop complaining!

[Your Funny Uncle]

Google tells me that a US Gallon is 3.78 litres, so assuming skyhigh's other calculations to be correct, The price he payed is (10.56/4.54)*3.78 = $8.79 per US gallon.

Never understood why people in the US abbreviate the word gasoline to a word that actually means something else already...

Edit: Beaten to it!

[York Minster]

I agree that Americans are cry babies on this issue.

On the other hand, you guys are being the same way in that we call the word "gas". Words are just signs. One word can function as 30 different signs, as I'm sure we are all familiar with. We could call a dog "gas" and given context probably rarely have confusion. I've never said, I need to go get gas and had anyone question what I meant.

[Undertaker]

Americans lost all credibilty anyway when they decided to spell 'colour' 'color'.

WTF are you doing?

Didn't the Yanks start putting cooking oil in their trucks engines?

[York Minster]

I think we lost it when we stopped spelling it: Maffaffuffetts

[Flaffer]

Perhaps the trains are better utilized over there?

bloody hell if you think your 'gas' is cheap, look at train fare over here

[StevePSB]

I've never said, I need to go get gas and had anyone question what I meant.

But I'll wager that you've never said it to anyone outside of the US.


StevePSB

[rollo]

There are some good graphs / tables around - the only one I could find on a quick search was Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasoline_a ... nd_pricing

The US isn't unusually low, but it is low by European standards. Also, the chart I was looking for was particularly interesting, as it showed that Turkey went from untaxed to crazily heavily taxed in a matter of years...

[Your Funny Uncle]

The thing about gasoline is that there are other products of the petrochemical industry that are actually gases and can be used as fuel like methane, propane and butane. Heck some of them are actually used to power vehicles. That's why it's such a daft abbreviation to me. I understand that language evolves the way it will and pretty much can't be controlled, but that's one evolution that struck me as particularly silly.