Getting the Model T’s gas mileage wrong
During a speech at a research center in Sourthern California today, Barack Obama repeated an oft-quoted misnomer from a 2003 Sierra Club ad. While touting the future of electric automobiles, the president said:
The 1908 Model T — think about this — the 1908 Model T earned better gas mileage than the typical SUV in 2008. Think about that. A hundred years later and we’re getting less gas mileage, not better, on SUVs.
Well, that’s not true, and the Detroit Free Press calls the president out on his lie.
That line about the Model T, a version of which Secretary of State Hillary Clinton used during her presidential bid, can be traced to a 2003 Sierra Club ad campaign that said the Model T could go 25 miles on a gallon of gasoline. Earlier references put the Model T’s mileage at 20 to 25 m.p.g.
That’s certainly better than the 18.7 m.p.g. real-world average of SUVs sold in 2008, according to federal statistics.
But according to Ford the first Model Ts built in 1908 could go 13 to 21 miles on a gallon, depending on the particular variation. The automaker and Model T clubs say typical Tin Lizzies averaged 15 m.p.g.
Those damn facts just seem to get in the way.
