Flutterby™! : Capital costs & CAFE standards

I have been thinking recently about the idea that we may actually apply a negative factor when including capital costs in transportation calculations. "I have the resource, I may as well use it". "The portion of the trip that's fixed cost actually goes down the more I use this resource".

Knowledge Problem: Raising MPG standards, part 2: Morris well explains the relative advantages of raising the gasoline tax points out that when we increase CAFE vehicle mileage standards, we're actually pushing more of the cost over on to capital portions, and probably encouraging people to drive more.