Make MPG the new MPH

Americans love competitions. Americans also love cars. The two passions have combined to yield countless car-related contests, from actual races to detailing battles to endless conversations, usually but not always among men, about how fast each person's car can go from zero to sixty miles an hour.

As Bill and I were discussing recently, if we want to encourage gas savings, one of the things we should do is try to shift the culture to focusing on MPG instead of MPH. So, for example, every car, but especially the hybrids, should receive a more standard and more reliable MPG rating. Cars with great ratings should broadcast them, ideally in real time, on rear and front displays. If you're considering speeding around the car in front of you, you'll also be able to compare its mileage to yours and decide if instead of speeding you'd rather have the smug satisfaction of being more fuel efficient, a goal you can achieve by maintaining your current pace.

Many Prius owners are already playing a version of this game in their quest for a full tank rated at or over 50 MPG. Toyota and all the other auto makers should encourage these contests by making models with Lithium-Ion batteries, a technology that would cost more but yield vastly better mileage. The technology doesn't have to pay off in gas savings as long as it pays off in coolness.

Adding models with better and better mileage would also increase hybrid sales, as well-off owners of current models succumbed to their lust for the more fuel-efficient older ones.

It could work.