Translation: NHTS = National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. They’re the federal agency in charge of setting and enforcing federal fuel economy regulations, amongst other things, as directed by the U.S. Congress. CAFE = Corporate Average Fuel Economy. Those are the fuel economy rules which dictate the combined (i.e. overall) fuel economy of a car manufacturer’s entire U.S. product line. 4.5% p.a. = the annual overall efficiency increase that the NHTSA will require from manufacturers selling cars in the United States. 2020 = the year during which people stop giving a shit about fuel economy because everyone’s driving plug-in electric hydrogen fuel cell CNG diesel hybrid vehicles. 39.4mpg = the completely unrealistic end-point when you do the math at 4.5 percent per year. And get this my beleaguered auto-building brethren: it’s actually a higher number than that stipulated by Congress. Equally important, we still don’t know how the standard will be calculated. Auto industry reaction after you go ahead and jump.
Dave McCurdy, CEO for Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, greeted the NHTSA’s announcement with open arms [via The Detroit News]. “[Our members share] with all Americans concerns about energy security and climate change,” adding that “greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles must be built on a single, strong national standard.” Wow, big change in tone there. Back in August, the Alliance called NHTSA’s proposal and its draft environmental statement ‘illogical’ and ‘wholly inconsistent’ Apparently, the agency “vastly overstated the benefits improving fuel economy.” Maybe that’s because the final environmental impact statement claims “the proposed fuel economy increases could reduce gasoline usage by 19.5 billion gallons through 2020 and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 185 million metric tons through 2100.” Or maybe not. Probably more to do with California’s push to set its own damn standard. Better the Devil you know than the demons you don’t.
I swear, if CAFE results in a V6 hybrid Corvette, I’ll scream bloody murder, along with the other Corvette fans in tow…
… hey, GM stock is inching back to $6.50. Should I invest now and hope that the Volt comes out on time so I can retire at 25?
Keep in mind that CAFE MPG numbers are not the same thing as what you see on the window sticker and certainly not what cars actually get over the road.
Have a look here:
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS189195+14-Aug-2008+BW20080814
“For example, in 2007 CAFE rated Honda’s domestic cars at 33.5 mpg; Honda’s imported cars averaged 39.6 mpg, and its light trucks averaged 25.0 mpg. Given those numbers, most consumers would assume they could walk into a Honda dealership and find several cars with combined city/highway gas mileage in the mid-30s. In reality, the Civic Hybrid is the only Honda that has combined mileage of better than 31 mpg.”
So, we are talking about a standard which if in place today would mean an automotive fleet which averages out to today’s Honda Civic. Honda’s 2007 car imports to the US were made up primarily of Fits, Civics and Accords … and that mix already hit the 39.4 MPG year 2020 bogey last year. It seems like 13 years should be enough time to get it done.
I don’t understand. Why don’t they just make it an even 100 mpg. That way they can throw all of the OEMs in the slam, and none of us will have cars, and we won’t be dependent on foreign oil. Or something like that.
Looks like GM will have to get out some old school technology to meet those requirements.
http://www.electrifyingtimes.com/gmprecept.html
http://www.3wheelers.com/gmlean.html
Robert Schwartz :
October 13th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
I don’t understand. Why don’t they just make it an even 100 mpg. That way they can throw all of the OEMs in the slam, and none of us will have cars, and we won’t be dependent on foreign oil. Or something like that.
Ha ha… just you wait. They’ll do as much as their power will allow them to do.