Gas Prices – Why there are small cars in Europe
Ok, I know most of you are reading this are from America and there you are questioning how come gas prices are going way over the $3/gallon mark especially as everyone is starting their summer vacations. Well, I just wanted to share with you what the gas prices here are like.
Above is pictured one of the cheaper gas stations that is in our area (and on a good gas price day since it fluctuates daily, sometimes it seems hourly). At first glance you might think we have it great here in Germany with gas prices (and compared to some places in the world, it is good). However let me explain the prices to those of you in the states.
The first price (the really cheap one) is for Erdgas, which is pretty much only used in certain farm vehicles. The second price there is for diesel (yes, diesel is cheaper than gas in Germany). The bottom three prices are for gas and equate to the levels of “Regular, Plus and Premium” found in the states. So the price of regular gas looks pretty good at 1.349 but you have to remember that that is Euros per liter. So to get that to Dollars per Gallon, we have to multiply the 1.349 by 3.7854118 (the amount of liters in a gallon) and then multiply the result by 1.35 (the current rate of Dollars to Euros) which means gas currently goes for $6.89/gallon for the cheap gas.
That is one of the reasons cars are smaller here and why bicycles and walking are favored in town transportation (and why we bought a diesel)
I believe Erdgas is the same thing as compressed natural gas (earth-gas). there are probably some cars around that run on CNG.