4 ms·

Gasoline costs a lot more than that in Europe and still everyone has a car. I think the current price is still a lot less than the market would pay. I'm pretty

Gasoline costs a lot more than that in Europe and still everyone has a car. I think the current price is still a lot less than the market would pay. I'm pretty sure people are going to switch to EVs rather than give up driving.

anthony_r 5y ago
Yup. Converted to gallons and the US dollar in Switzerland you have to pay $9.35 for gas (CHF2.3 per liter). Yet there's no shortage of cars on the highways here.
- giantg2 5y ago
  It's always hard to compare value internationally, but... The median income in Switzerland is about $125k USD. That's more than twice the median in the US. It sounds like the affordability of $9/gal gas is greatly different. US politicians are actually suggesting things like a stipend or stimulus payment to help people pay for gas. Ridiculous, but that's how it is.
  - anthony_r 5y ago
    FWIW: the gas price is about the same in Germany, which has a median yearly income of about $45k.
  - rolisz 5y ago
    In Romania the gas prices are about 6.38$/gallon. I'm pretty sure average income in Romania is much lower than in the US.
  - potta_coffee 5y ago
    Distances driven in the US are often much higher as well. People I know regularly commute 30 to 60 minutes one way to get to work. Some tradesmen I know are driving 2 hours to get to the jobsite.
    - giantg2 5y ago
      Yep. When I go back, it'll be about 45 miles per day for my commute.
  - missedthecue 5y ago
    "The median income in Switzerland is about $125k USD." I don't believe this for a second and sure enough the first few sources produced by a google search show a far different situations. The Swiss office of Federal Statistics says the median income is 50,120 CHF per year which is $53,880 USD at current exchange rates. Even the top 10% of the country's earners are only in the mid $90k, nowhere near $125k. https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/en/home/statistics/economic-social-situation-population/economic-and-social-situation-of-the-population/inqualities-income-ditribution/income-distribution.html https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/en/home/statistics/economic-soc...
    - giantg2 5y ago
      From your link: "equivalised disposable income" So it sounds like this isn't gross income. Here is the explaination. "It is measured by the median equivalised disposable income, after adjustment for differences in price levels between countries. This means that despite the high price levels in Switzerland, the population's financial situation, after deduction of obligatory expenditure, was in 2020 more comfortable than that of its neighbouring countries and countries in the European Union." So the disposable median in Switzerland is about the same as the gross median in the US. It looks like the equivalised disposable income for the US is not calculated, so we can't compare that. Having a median disposable income that is about the same as the gross median of another country still seems to support my implication that the Swiss are more wealthy and can better afford the cost of gas as compared to the US. It seems it's hard to get "good" sources for Swiss median income. They do list the median monthly wage as being around 6500. This doesn't include other income sources, and is still about double the US median income. https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/en/home/statistics/work-income/wages-income-employment-labour-costs/wage-levels-switzerland.html https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/en/home/statistics/work-income/...
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
fulafel 5y ago
In the US there are more cars per capita than in European countries except for a couple of micro states, and many people don't have cars: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_vehicles_per_capita https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_vehicles_... (tdlr: US ~800, Central european countries ~500, some big countries much less eg Ukraine ~250) Also, EVs still have such big CO2 footprints that they don't really solve the problem, to make a dent we'll need to curtil the growth of cars globally - considering the developing countries catching up and getting more cars there, this means radical changes. The emissions from EVs also pile on top of the emissions from burning all the oil we pump up, so in a way they're increasing emissions if we consider the oil supply to be limited.
- Kon-Peki 5y ago
  It is worth noting that the average age of cars in the United States has been going up every year for decades now [1]. Cars continue to get more durable and thus Americans aren't scrapping them at high rates. In many comparable countries, mandatory inspections/maintenance force older cars off the road and into scrap heaps at a much higher rate - certainly at a higher rate than necessary. [1] https://www.bts.gov/content/average-age-automobiles-and-trucks-operation-united-states https://www.bts.gov/content/average-age-automobiles-and-truc...
sergiotapia 5y ago
Don't people spend less on gas though since everything is so tiny in Europe and nearby?

anthony_r 5y ago

Yup. Converted to gallons and the US dollar in Switzerland you have to pay $9.35 for gas (CHF2.3 per liter). Yet there's no shortage of cars on the highways here.

giantg2 5y ago
It's always hard to compare value internationally, but... The median income in Switzerland is about $125k USD. That's more than twice the median in the US. It sounds like the affordability of $9/gal gas is greatly different. US politicians are actually suggesting things like a stipend or stimulus payment to help people pay for gas. Ridiculous, but that's how it is.
- anthony_r 5y ago
  FWIW: the gas price is about the same in Germany, which has a median yearly income of about $45k.
- rolisz 5y ago
  In Romania the gas prices are about 6.38$/gallon. I'm pretty sure average income in Romania is much lower than in the US.
- potta_coffee 5y ago
  Distances driven in the US are often much higher as well. People I know regularly commute 30 to 60 minutes one way to get to work. Some tradesmen I know are driving 2 hours to get to the jobsite.
  - giantg2 5y ago
    Yep. When I go back, it'll be about 45 miles per day for my commute.
- missedthecue 5y ago
  "The median income in Switzerland is about $125k USD." I don't believe this for a second and sure enough the first few sources produced by a google search show a far different situations. The Swiss office of Federal Statistics says the median income is 50,120 CHF per year which is $53,880 USD at current exchange rates. Even the top 10% of the country's earners are only in the mid $90k, nowhere near $125k. https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/en/home/statistics/economic-social-situation-population/economic-and-social-situation-of-the-population/inqualities-income-ditribution/income-distribution.html https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/en/home/statistics/economic-soc...
  - giantg2 5y ago
    From your link: "equivalised disposable income" So it sounds like this isn't gross income. Here is the explaination. "It is measured by the median equivalised disposable income, after adjustment for differences in price levels between countries. This means that despite the high price levels in Switzerland, the population's financial situation, after deduction of obligatory expenditure, was in 2020 more comfortable than that of its neighbouring countries and countries in the European Union." So the disposable median in Switzerland is about the same as the gross median in the US. It looks like the equivalised disposable income for the US is not calculated, so we can't compare that. Having a median disposable income that is about the same as the gross median of another country still seems to support my implication that the Swiss are more wealthy and can better afford the cost of gas as compared to the US. It seems it's hard to get "good" sources for Swiss median income. They do list the median monthly wage as being around 6500. This doesn't include other income sources, and is still about double the US median income. https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/en/home/statistics/work-income/wages-income-employment-labour-costs/wage-levels-switzerland.html https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/en/home/statistics/work-income/...
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]

fulafel 5y ago

In the US there are more cars per capita than in European countries except for a couple of micro states, and many people don't have cars: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_vehicles_per_capita https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_vehicles_... (tdlr: US ~800, Central european countries ~500, some big countries much less eg Ukraine ~250) Also, EVs still have such big CO2 footprints that they don't really solve the problem, to make a dent we'll need to curtil the growth of cars globally - considering the developing countries catching up and getting more cars there, this means radical changes. The emissions from EVs also pile on top of the emissions from burning all the oil we pump up, so in a way they're increasing emissions if we consider the oil supply to be limited.

Kon-Peki 5y ago
It is worth noting that the average age of cars in the United States has been going up every year for decades now [1]. Cars continue to get more durable and thus Americans aren't scrapping them at high rates. In many comparable countries, mandatory inspections/maintenance force older cars off the road and into scrap heaps at a much higher rate - certainly at a higher rate than necessary. [1] https://www.bts.gov/content/average-age-automobiles-and-trucks-operation-united-states https://www.bts.gov/content/average-age-automobiles-and-truc...

sergiotapia 5y ago

Don't people spend less on gas though since everything is so tiny in Europe and nearby?