What that fuel economy trends report shows

Hey everyone. Jim Kliesch here. I’m the new guy in UCS’ Clean Vehicles team, and as such, ScottN asked me to drop a line and introduce myself. Not wanting to further disappoint the man after his beloved Mets’ season-ending meltdown, I thought I’d oblige.

I’ve been in the green vehicle community for a while now, having spent the last eight years with the fine folks at the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE). Anyway, I’ll be popping my head into the blogosphere here every now and then to say hi and share some perspectives. Speaking of which… The EPA recently released their annual fuel economy trends report, a great annual resource for tracking fuel economy and other vehicle characteristics. This year saw some interesting changes: an up-tick in light truck (that would be SUVs, minivans, pickups) fuel economy for the last couple years has caused the overall average vehicle fuel economy to buck the steady decline it’s seen from 1987 to 2004.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that overall, we’re still no better today than we were in 1986, more than twenty years ago—which is why Congress needs to send a meaningful bill to the president demanding a fleet average of 35 mpg by 2020. It’s really that simple.

But don't just take our word for how simple it is. A story in the Wall Street Journal, whose editorial page is none too friendly to strong fuel economy standards, makes the point for us. In the "Eyes on the Road" column, Joseph White has this to say:

The average fuel efficiency of light trucks has increased by one mile per gallon since 2004, a shift that coincides with higher gas prices, a turn away from heavy, truck-frame sport utility vehicles, and -- sorry, auto industry friends -- an increase in the federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standard to 22.2 mpg in 2007 from 20.7 mpg in 2004.

Why sympathy for the car industry folks? Because they don't want Congress to get the idea that raising the CAFE mileage standards is the only way to get them to produce more efficient vehicles. Unfortunately for them, this report strongly implies that's the case.

Gas prices have doubled in the past five years, and yet consumers are still struggling to find high-mpg alternatives on showroom floors, especially in minivans, pickups, SUVs, and large sedans. That up-tick in truck mpg I mentioned is largely a result of CAFE regulations. With hard proof that CAFE works, and a demonstrated history that the industry won’t boost mpg without the encouragement of the government, it’s high time Congress send an energy bill with “35 by 2020” to the president.

Posted by: Jim

Comments

[John Acheson]

Let's be sure we take the word "average" very seriously. For example, your 60 MPG diesel or hybrid means very little if 2 or 3 other people buy average cars... What if two or three billion people buy average cars???

First off, what is a "fleet" and why the debate fixation on 35 MPG?

Before we discuss "fleet" how did we get to the proposed magic answer of 35 MPG, where did it come from? Why 35 MPG which equals 14.86 KM/L a very strange global number.

The reason that number is so strange is that the Insight and Prius are already rated at 40 KM/L which is about 94 MPG.

Is 35 MPG halfway in between 45 MPG (20 KM/L every small car in Europe meets this) and 25 MPG (10 KM/L every car in Japan meets this) so auto makers can allocate to cars and trucks, as half the vehicles are trucks anyway, and trucks deliver everything we consume.

So it seems like politics are playing domestic with MPG numbers to settle debates... After all, are there any universities in American turning out automotive engineering majors at the PhD level???

I propose that 100 MPGs is more like it!

Why, because the global fleet (population) of cars and trucks is projected to triple around the time my future kid buys his first car.

One or two billion first-time car buyers are just now starting to trickle into dealerships around the world and they will start stampeding over the next few decades.

If our current fleet is only 800 million cars and trucks responsible for 1/3 of the global pain we're all debating, how can the oil and fuel and road infrastructure as well as ozone support an explosion in the number of vehicles upwards of 300%.

Imagine 3 times more smog, 3 times more accidents, 3 times more traffic, 3 times more expensive gasoline, etc.

Yes, vehicles kill one million, smog kills another 2 million, each year, etc.

Don't get me wrong, I love cars, grew up next to a race track and pumped gas at my 1st job, but I'm worried about two billion lower middle class car buyers who don't give a hoot about CAFE...

I'm worried about 2,000,000,000 or the same amount of consumers as six United States worth of first-time car buyers shopping on price not mileage.

Do you remember your first car? Did you care about emissions? Did you check the mileage? Were you concerned about the power train or fuel?

We're on the right track in America because we already have 230 million cars and trucks which is probably enough to hold us for awhile.

Anything short of a global 100 MPG will sicken this planet far worse than it's slight fever today. Anything less than three times more efficiency will be back peddling into the future...

[Chris (myfreegasonline.com) Waters]

35 by 2020 sounds good but we need to speed that up..that is 12 years away. Rising fuel prices are really hurting people right now. I am just glad I get all of my fuel for free.

[Garko Factor]

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