Transportation Timeline

	1800	Transportation as we know today was almost non-existent. Railroads covered far less territory. Trains were much smaller. Horse-drawn carts moved food and all other items on land, and barges moved them on rivers.

	1908	Henry Ford produced the Model T car (Note that the Model T had been designed to use ethanol, gasoline, or any combination of the two fuels).

	1920	The Ford Motor Company manufactured the Model T in large numbers.

	1992	Thirty four percent of total energy was used to make electricity.

	1950 - Present	The National Highway Defense System opened interstate highways for fast trucks.

	1950 - Present	Oil was our most used energy source because of automobiles.

	1951- Present	Oil has given us most of our energy. Automobiles increased the demand for oil.

	1969	Automobiles averaged 5.1 years of age.

	In 1969	There was a 143 percent increase in household vehicles.

	1969-1990	Among men who were working, the number who could drive grew from 80 percent to 95 percent. Among women who were working, the number who could drive grew from 61 percent to 86 percent.

	1975	U.S. Congress passed a law that required car makers to build more fuel efficient cars.

	By 1978	New car fleets were to have an overall average of 18 miles per gallon of gasoline.

	1978	The Energy Tax Act of 1978 established a Gas Guzzler Tax, a tax ranging from $1,000 to $7,700 per vehicle on gas-guzzling automobiles.

	1980	Efforts to deregulate the railroad and trucking industries as the Staggers Rail and the Motor Carrier Act became law.

	By 1985	New car fleets were to have an overall average of 27.5 miles per gallon of gasoline.

	1994	Deregulation Act of the Trucking Industry.

	1995	Among women who were working, the number who could drive declined to 80 percent. Among men who were working, the number who could drive declined to 88 percent.

	1995	Eighty percent of households had at least one vehicle for each of their drivers.

	1995	Automobiles averaged 8.2 years of age.

	1999	The first hybrid automobile (powered by both a rechargeable battery and gasoline) hits the mass market in the U.S.

	1949-2000	The transportation sector's use of energy, which is overwhelmingly petroleum, more than tripled from 1949 to 2000. Motor gasoline accounts for about two-thirds of the petroleum consumed in the sector. Distillate fuel oil and jet fuel are other important petroleum products used in the sector.

	2001	92 percent - 98.8 million of the 107.4 million households- owned or possessed a light-duty vehicle (car, small truck, or motorcycle).

	2003	sport utility vehicles (SUVs) accounted for 27 percent of all light-duty vehicle sales, up 6.8 percent from 1990.

	2005	National Highway Traffic Safety Administration proposed new regulations to revise light trucks' fuel economy (miles per gallon), giving two options to automakers for 2008-2010 model year vehicles.