Here’s what’s going on
Our world is changing. Whether we want to believe it or not, our world is evolving. Whether it’s the rising water levels, the worsening air quality, or even the different cars on our roads, the world isn’t the 1950s post-WWII world that our parents and grandparents expected. For most of us, it’s hard to adapt to the changing world, being environmentally conscious is really hard! One of the increasing ways that people are evolving to be environmentally conscious is by getting more environmentally friendly cars and trucks! Today, I’m going to outline which cars qualify for the tax exemptions that are quickly being rolled out across the country, while also showing which cars are better for our environment from some of the most popular car brands. Going through the datasets that we outline, this will mostly be appealing to people who are looking to buy a car that is more environmentally conscious or are looking to see which cars are in fact more environmentally conscious, from average miles per gallon by auto manufacturer, the amount of carbon that is released in the air by operating said vehicles. Although, in some cases, electric cars may actually have the same carbon footprint as your average gas vehicle, it’s quite interesting to look and see what the exact carbon footprint for each vehicle. I also think this study may also be influential to state legislatures that are trying to roll out tax exemptions and rewards for buying environmentally conscious cars, as lawmakers may be surprised as to which cars are actually helping the environment with their low emissions and lower carbon footprint. You may be thinking to yourself, why does this matter? For so many years, many people didn’t think about how the products we use can negatively impact the world we live in. Remember when politicians and scientists were telling all of us to restrict the use of hairspray? Depleting ozone layers? Maybe even Hurricane Sandy (for those of us on the east coast)? These are events in our lifetime where we’ve seen how much the earth is changing. Ever notice that it’s easier to get sunburnt nowadays? That’s because of our earth being treated negatively. We kind of need earth to survive, so why not find ways to save our planet? One of the ways we can do this is by adopting vehicles that produce less of a carbon footprint. Let’s be real, especially in the United States, we are constantly fueled (no pun intended) by the fossil fuels industry. Whether it’s building cars with certain fuel companies in mind, or certain companies funding their favorite politicians, the fossil fuel industry “fuels” our nation. Now, they may not be going away any time soon, but we should look to adopting cars into our lifestyles that will at least be less detrimental to our environment. In the datasets we used, you may see some car manufacturers that you haven’t heard of. That’s because Australia has actually been worried about the environment for decades now! Their data shows us the long-term effects of certain car manufacturers and their carbon footprint, but we were sure to include North American data too. So, without further ado, let’s jump in!
Let’s look at the data
For our first visualization, I think it’s important to take a look at the numbers over time. According to a Data Set published by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, looking at data from 1984-2017, I have put together a few visualizations looking at the average fuel cost, average fuel economy, and a few other important statistics. First, here’s a pie chart showing how many cars used a specific type of fuel, from 1984-2017.
Looking at that pie chart, it’s a little hard to see some data points, so I’ll outline what the data shows. I will be using the word “Vehicle(s)” to outline the amount of Makes and Models, not the amount of vehicles manufactured that use the specific type of fuel From 1984-2017, there were about 60 Vehicles that used Compressed Natural Gas, 1,014 Vehicles used Diesel, 133 Vehicles used Electricity exclusively, 1,223 vehicles used “Flex Fuel” (E85 or Gasoline), 20 vehicles used Gasoline or Natural Gas, 8 vehicles used Gasoline or Propane, 77 vehicles used Mid-grade fuel, and 10,133 vehicles used Premium Fuel. Additionally, 25 vehicles used Premium Fuel and Electricity in conjunction with each other, 18 vehicles used Premium Fuel or Electricity, 122 vehicles used Premium or E85 fuel. In terms of Regular Gas, 25,258 cars used just regular gasoline, 20 vehicles used Gasoline and Electricity, and 2 vehicles used Gasoline or Electricity. For this data set, we see that the majority of cars are using gasoline, but an increasing about of cars have been using alternative fuels and more fuel efficient solutions.
Next, we’ll look at some data showing the average fuel cost in America:
This line chart shows us the Average of Annual Fuel Cost that one person spent per year. This chart shows us the date from 1984 to 2017. During these thirty-three years, the average amount of cost spent on fuel has constantly fluctuated. Additionally, we can notice that, since 2008, the average cost on fuel started to decline sharply. The reason for this decline was due to the financial crisis of 2008, which led to a significant drop in global economic activity. The decrease in economic activity led to a decrease in demand for fuel, which in turn led to a decrease in fuel prices. During economic downturns, businesses and consumers tend to reduce travel and transportation, which results in lower fuel consumption.
Adding onto our previous statement and visualization, above is the average fuel economy of a car from each year. In 1984, the average combined fuel economy of a car was 19.88 MPG. During that time, the average annual fuel cost was $1,919.09. Compare that to 1995, when the annual price of fuel was $2,065.15, the average combined fuel economy of a car was 18.8 MPG. As the price of fuel has gone up, so has the average fuel economy of a car. Just 10 years later, in 2005, the average fuel economy of a vehicle was 19.19 MPG, and the average annual fuel price was, $2,078.73. Fast forward to 2017, when the average fuel economy of a vehicle was 24.62 MPG, and the average annual fuel cost was $1,735.42, we see that cars have become even more fuel efficient as the average cost of fuel has fluctuated. When seeing these statistics, I was curious as to why the cost of fuel was so high in the early 2000s (barring the 2008 financial crisis), and was reminded of the influx of SUV sales in America. Although I was unable to find a statistic specifically outlining SUV Sales, I decided instead to show you what SUVs my parents have bought, as they’ve owned SUVs, more specifically Jeeps, since the early 2000s.
The photo on the left shows the Fuel Economy for each vehicle. What I thought was cool is that, on the 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee, the EPA Shows the fuel economy for if we fueled the car with E85 Fuel. Pretty cool stuff! On the right, you’ll see how many barrels of gasoline or E85 it would take to fill up each vehicle. I also like that the EPA says how much more we’re spending each year over the average new car. In case you were wondering, if we still had our 2003 Jeep Grand Cherokee (great car) or our 2010 Jeep Commander, we’d be paying over $7,000 more in fuel prices each year over the average new car (for 2024, the average fuel economy is 24 MPG). For our current fleet, however, I’m happy to report that my 2008 Honda Element is still beating both of the Jeeps in fuel efficiency, even though it is considerably older than our Jeeps. See below!
For those of you out there that are looking to buy a new car, these next bit of statistics are for you! Recently, Australia has put into place tax exemptions for cars that are more fuel efficient, thus incentivizing their citizens to adopt cleaner cars that are better for our environment. First, let’s look at how many cars are tax exempt in Australia, based on model year:
In this visualization, we see that the vast majority of cars that are tax exempt were cars that were made in 2023 and 2024. Although this may not be all that surprising, what is surprising to me, is the amount of cars that were made before 2004 that are tax exempt. According to this dataset, there were 70 models of vehicles that are tax exempt under Australia’s legislation. Most of these vehicles are models that use alternative fuels (Compressed Natural Gas, Hydrogen, Diesel, E85, etc.) but it is still quite interesting to see that you don’t have to own a new car to become tax exempt. When looking for a car, it’s important to take into consideration, especially in an age of environmental conservation, which automakers are actually the most helpful towards the environment. Below, I have included a gauge visualization that shows which automakers have the worst carbon footprint.
Obviously when looking for a new car, you may not always consider carbon footprint of the vehicles they’re selling. The gauges above are showing the average amount of carbon that is being released into the atmosphere by driving their vehicles. Tracking a vehicle’s carbon emissions is important to gauging what environmental impacts these vehicles are having on our world. More carbon emissions means more negative effects on our environment. Another way to gauge whether a car is good for our environment or not is to look at the average fuel economy by auto manufacturer:
Fuel Economy is important when looking into buying a car! Cars with a better fuel economy usually mean that they’re better for our environment. In addition, they usually mean less frequent trips to the pump. Your wallet will thank you! Still not sold on a vehicle’s impact on our environment? Below, I’ve attached a visualization that looks into the carbon emissions and fuel economy of each make and model of car. Using the dropdown, find an auto manufacturer, and you’ll be able to see the carbon emissions and average fuel economy of each vehicle. The more fuel efficient it is, the more it will end up on the right side of the graph. The higher it is on the graph, the more carbon emissions it releases. Check it out!
To conclude…
You’ve seen how much vehicle emissions have an impact on our environment. From the CO2 Emissions each auto manufacturer emits, average fuel economy of your favorite cars, to the average cost of fuel, and how fuel economy has changes over time. We even saw how fuel efficient (or inefficient) the Karsch vehicle fleet really is.