Vehicle type efficiency

[snow hope]

Does anybody have details on the gallons of fuel used per person say for travel from London to Edinburgh by :-

plane
train
bus
car

Lets assume full occupancy.

Thanks.

[skeptik]

Does anybody have details on the gallons of fuel used per person say for travel from London to Edinburgh by :-

plane
train
bus.
car

London to Edinburgh is biased against the plane as its just a short hop. A large proportion of that trip for a 747 is ascent and descent, where a jet aircraft is least efficient - the ascent part of a flight uses fuel at approx 3 times the rate as level cruising at 30.000 ft. The longer the flight and the higher the altitude it is flown at (less air resistance to forward motion) the more fuel efficient a jet plane is.

IATA estimates that the current world passenger aircraft fleet averages 49 passenger miles per US gallon. On an individual aircraft basis, fuel economy varies a lot. More modern aircraft are significantly more fuel efficient - the energy efficiency of the fleet as a whole has increased by 70% since the 1960's

http://www.iata.org/whatwedo/environmen ... ciency.htm

Heres my guess for the order from most energy efficient to least efficient on your proposed journey with full occupancy. This is just a guess I havent looked up the figures! - allowing for 4 people in an average 'familly' saloon car - rather than a high performance vehicle.

Train
Bus
Car
Plane

[fishertrop]

More modern aircraft are significantly more fuel efficient - the energy efficiency of the fleet as a whole has increased by 70% since the 1960's

I saw a program recently about German aircraft manufacturers turning back to propeller planes as they can make them much MUCH more efficient than jets for short-haul and that the latest designs just about meet the hight/speed requirements of air "lanes", which has always been the main prob with prop planes in recent decades.

[clv101]

Lets have a go.

London to Edinburgh is 400 miles.

By 50mpg diesel car uses 8 gallons (36 litres)
By 35mpg petrol car uses 11.4 gallons (52 litres)
By 10mpg diesel coach uses 40 gallons (181 litres)
By 1.1mpg* diesel electric train uses 364 gallons (1653 litres)
By 0.76mpg** Airbus A321 uses 528 gallons (2400 litres)

* Based on 7kg of CO2 per km and compared to a 52mpg diesel car that produces 146g of CO2 per km.

** Based on 400 miles taking 48 minutes and fuel consumption of 660 gallons per hour.

If the cars have two people in them, the coach has 30, the train has 350 and the plane has 160 the fuel per passenger works out like this:

Petrol car 5.7 gallons per person
Diesel car 4 gallons per person
Plane 3.3 gallons per person
Coach 1.3 gallons per person
Train 1 gallon per person

The numbers are all very rough and just the result of a couple of minutes on google. Fuel use is only one part of the equation though. You should also look at how much energy when into the manufacture of the plane, train or car and what it's life is. I mean cars typically last 10-15 years where trains and planes last more like 30.

Here's some more data:
http://www.transwatch.co.uk/transport-fact-sheet-5.htm
http://www.cfit.gov.uk/reports/racomp/03.htm
http://www.gbairways.com/company_detail ... rbus_a321/

[RogerCO]

Petrol car 5.7 gallons per person
Diesel car 4 gallons per person
Plane 3.3 gallons per person
Coach 1.3 gallons per person
Train 1 gallon per person

That's really interesting, thanks Chris.
Now look at the typical costs:
Petrol car ?24.11 plus approx ?20 cost of ownership (at 10p per mile shared between 2 people)
Diesel car ?17.46 plus approx ?20 ditto
Plane ryanair stanstead to glasgow in mid Nov ?0.03 plus approx ?30 taxes plus approx ?12 getting to stanstead plus you end up at Prestwick not Edinburgh (typical Ryanair)
Plane BA late Oct ?11 plus approx ?54 taxes and fuel surcharges plus approx ?12 getting to LHR
Coach Megabus ?10 London to Glasgow, National Express from ?5 to Glasgow (does Edinburgh ban coaches or something)
Train GNER from ?12.50 to ?103 for 2nd class depending on availability

I had expected them to be more out of kilter, with plane and car unreasonably cheap and train too expensive, but if you go for the cheapest option in each case and include the cost of ownership of the car (which most people forget, and might be nearly double what I suggest)
then they are more or less in line.