Industry News
US DOT proposes 25% fuel economy increase over five years
24th April 2008
Fuel efficiency standards for both passenger vehicles and light trucks would increase by 4.5% a year over the five-year period ending in 2015 – a 25% total improvement that exceeds the 3.3% baseline proposed by Congress last year – under a new proposal announced this week by U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters, who described it as “historically ambitious, yet achievable”.
For passenger cars, the proposal would increase fuel economy from the current 27.5 mpg to 35.7 mpg by 2015. For light trucks, the proposal calls for increases from 23.5 mpg in 2010 to 28.6 mpg in 2015. (NB A U.S. gallon is 83% of an imperial gallon.)
The proposal is intended to save nearly 55 billion gallons of fuel and a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions estimated at 521 million metric tons. The plan will save America’s drivers over $100 billion in fuel costs over the lifetime of the vehicles covered by the rule, Secretary Peters said.
As required by Congress, the proposed rule allows for automakers to earn credits for exceeding Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, standards. This is intended to serve as an incentive for companies to exceed these goals while giving manufacturers flexibility to meet the standards without compromising their ‘economic vitality’.
Over the last six years, the US Administration has twice made changes to the nation’s CAFE standards, including the first since 1975 to increase mileage requirements for light trucks. Last year, President Bush called for an energy plan that goes even further by requiring attribute-based fuel efficiency standards for passenger vehicles. A copy of the CAFE proposal can be found at www.nhtsa.gov.
According to Joan Claybrook, a former administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and now president of the watchdog group Public Citizen, the proposal has two serious flaws: It's too lax, and it's too complicated, requiring manufacturers to have individual fuel-economy targets by 2015 instead of an across-the-board goal for that date. Claybrook says it will create an "unadministrable mess" that "will reward automakers who produce a lot of large gas-guzzlers with lower individual targets,” as reported by Forbes magazine’s website.
The proposal is open to 60 days’ consultation, and does not have to be signed into law until April 2009 to take effect by the intended date of 2011.
It was greeted positively by the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, representing the Detroit ‘Big Three’ manufacturers.
"Congress has set an aggressive, single, nationwide standard and automakers are prepared to meet that challenge. This proposal represents an important mile marker on the road to at least 35 miles per gallon by 2020," said the body’s president & CEO Dave McCurdy.
Referring to recent Californian emissions reduction legislation blocked by the U.S. EPA, if not by name, the Alliance added, “While these increases will present a challenge, it is critical that automakers and consumers have the certainty that this nationwide, 50-state fuel economy rule provides.”
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