Everyone knows that scooters get better gas mileage than cars bar none (exluding hybrids). It is obvious that having smaller engines and less weight to push around yields more miles per gallon. But I've been wondering what the emissions on my Vespa GT200 are and how they compare to cars. I would assume my emissions are lower but from what I found on the web that isn't necessarily always the case. This article reports some testing done that shows a scooter fairly similar to mine (50 cc less) had 168 ppm of hydrocarbons and 3.1 percent CO2 compared to a Subaru Tribeca which had 10 ppm of hydrocarbons and 1 percent CO2. Here is another page that looks at emissions from scooters. as you can see driving a scooter is more about saving money on gas than it is for saving the environment.
Posted by troutm8 at March 30, 2007 03:18 PM