On Driving Slower vs.

Faster
Chuck Higgins 9th draft March 31, 2011 Driving more slowly will save on transportation costs, but is it always effective to do so? Transportation costs are a function of mileage, speed, price per gallon, and wage rates. Omitted here is depreciation associated with time in that depreciation would be same regardless. Wear and tear costs can be added to the price per gallon. Usage traditionally in liters/kilometer is conceptually the reciprocal of the miles/gallon and desirably lower and higher respectively. Given M is mileage in m/g (or 1/L where L=lt/k) , P is price in $/g (or /lt), S is speed in m/h (or k/h), and W is wage in $/h (or /h) with units in miles or kilometers, gallons or liters, dollars or euros, and hours. With K as total cost and D as distance: 1a) 1b) Ka = P(D/Ma) + W(D/Sa) or Ka = PDLa + W(D/Sa) and Kb = P(D/Mb) + W(D/Sb) or Kb = PDLb + W(D/Sb)

for speeds Sa and Sb. Setting Ka equal to Kb, one gets: 2) 3) P/Ma + W/Sa = P/Mb + W/Sb or PLa + W/Sa = PLb + W/Sb W(1/Sa 1/Sb) = P(1/Mb 1/Ma) or W(1/Sa 1/Sb) = P(Lb La)

Given that when Sb > Sa that Mb < Ma (or Lb > La), then a positive solution is: 4) W = P([1/Mb 1/Ma]/[1/Sa 1/Sb]) or W = P([Lb La]/[1/Sa 1/Sb])

Scenario A
Suppose at 60 m/h one gets 24m/g and at 80 m/h one gets 18m/g in miles, hours, and gallons. A trip of 72 miles would require 3 gallons at 60 m/h and would take 1.2 hours and at 80 m/h it would require 4 gallons and .9 hours. An equality of costs between these speeds would be at: 5) 6) 3P + 1.2W = 4P +.9W or .3W = P or W = P/.3

where P is the price per gallon and W is the wage. If P is 4.5 dollars per gallon then the wage rate which makes a difference would be 15 dollars per hour. Thus if one makes more than $15/h then it is more cost effective

to drive at 80 m/h. However, is it significant? If one makes $50/h then 5) would be 3x$4.5 + 1.2x$50 vs. 4x$4.5 + .9x$50 or $73.50 vs. $63 or a gain of 10.50 dollars to drive faster at a $50/h wage rate. But, if one makes $10/h then 5) would be 3x$4.5 + 1.2x$10 vs. 4x$4.5 + .9x$10 or $25.50 vs. $27 or a gain of 1.50 dollars to drive slower at a $10/h wage rate.

Scenario B
Suppose at 60 m/h one gets 40m/g and at 80 m/h gets 30m/g in miles, hours, and gallons. A trip of 120 miles would require 3 gallons at 60 m/h and would take 2 hours and at 80 m/h it would require 4 gallons and 1.5 hours. An equality of costs between these speeds would be at: 7) 8) 3P + 2W = 4P + 1.5W or .5W = P or W = 2P

where P is the price per gallon and W is the wage. If P is 4.5 dollars per gallon then the wage rate that makes a difference would be 9 dollars per hour. Thus if one makes more than $9/h then it is more cost effective to drive at 80 m/h. However, is it significant? If one makes $50/h then 7) would be 3x$4.5 + 2x$50 vs. 4x$4.5 + 1.5x$50 or $113.50 vs. $93 or a gain of 10.50 dollars to drive faster at a $50/h wage rate. But if one makes $10/h then 7) would be 3x$4.5 + 2x$10 vs. 4x$4.5 + 1.5x$10 or $33.50 vs. $33 or a gain of .50 dollars to drive still drive faster at $10/h wage rate.

Scenario C
Suppose at 100 k/h one gets .10 lt/k and at 120 k/h gets .12 lt/k in kilometers, hours, and liters. A trip of 100 kilometers would require 10 liters at 100 k/h and would take 1 hour and at 120 k/h it would require 12 liters and .833 hours. An equality of costs between these speeds would be at: 9) 10) 10P + 1W = 12P + .833W or .166W = 2P or W = 12P

where P is the price per liter and W is the wage. If P is 1.5 euros per liter then the wage rate that makes a difference would be 18 euros per hour. Thus if one makes more than 18/h then it is more cost effective to drive at 120 k/h. However, is it significant? If one makes 40/h then 9) would be 10x1.5 + 1x40 vs. 12x1.5 + .833x40 or 55 vs. 51.33 or a gain of 3.66 euros to drive faster at a 40/h wage rate. But, if one makes 10/h then 9) would be 10x1.5 + 1x10 vs. 12x1.5 + .833x10 or 25 vs. 26.33 or a gain of 1.33 euros to drive slower at a 10/h wage rate.

General Case
A general case can be examined with mileage as a diminishing function of speed, or: 11) M = A BS where mileage falls, or non similarly L = C + ES where liter consumption rises

and substituting into a generalized version of 1a) or 1b), one gets: 12) K = PD/(A BS) + WD/S or non similarly K = PD(C + ES) + WD/S

With 12) in liter/kilometers, the increase is linear with friction. However the drag rises to the cubic power of speed. Regardless, with P = 4.5, A=30, B=.20, and various values for D, the optimal speeds associated with some various wage rates which achieved the lowest total costs were: Wage Speed 10 60 15 67 20 73 25 77 30 80 35 83 40 86 45 88 50 90 Graphically:

One can take the first derivative of the liter/kilometer version of 12):

13) K/S = PDE WD/S2 and set equal to zero gives an optimal speed of: 14) S = (W/PE)1/2 An example from scenario C, would have E as .001 (lt/k)/(k/hr) and P as 1.5 /lt. With a wage rate at 18 /h, the optimal speed would be about 109 kilometers per hour.

Conclusion
If ones wage rate (or the opportunity cost of time if on vacation instead of at work) is high, then the cost savings of driving slower are swamped by the extra cost associated with longer trip times. Likewise, if ones wage rate is low, then it is worth it to slow down. As petroleum prices rise, the wage rate at the point of equality would rise linearly there from. As to the mileage, the wage rate at the point of equality rises per the difference of the reciprocal mileage rates or difference of liter consumption. In the case of Prius drivers, where mileage is a lesser consideration, then the conclusion would be to have the Prii speed up!