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Automotive News & Views Has CAFE reached the end of its usefulness?
507 messages, Last post on Oct 27, 2009 at 11:49 AM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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Replying to: m6vx (May 15, 2007 4:04 am) Why? I gave an example of two vehicles that travelled a total of 200 miles and burned 12 gallons of fuel. It sure seems to me that you should be able to compute an average mpg from these figures. In fact that's exactly what the Department of Transportation does. They have an accurate estimate of how many miles are driven on our roadways. They also have an accurate estimate of how much fuel was consumed. They divide one by the other and arrive at an average mpg, which I believe is around 21. |
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Replying to: li_sailor (May 14, 2007 3:55 pm) I stated that the miles were the same and even knowing this you cannot tell me how much total fuel these 2 cars consumed. I'm not sure why this is such a difficult concept for you to grasp. If you have a fleet average of 25 mpg the least amount of gas will be burned if every single vehicle gets exactly 25 mpg. Any deviation within the fleet will result in more gas being burned even if the average stays the same. While I don't believe that CAFE is effective I do believe that when you are talking about a fleet average it should reflect total miles driven divided by gallons of gas consumed. EPA mileage stickers include an annual fuel cost. This is based upon 15,000 miles being driven and, I believe, a gas cost of $2.85/gallon. Back out the $2.85/gallon and you will get the gallons of fuel consumed over 15,000 miles. This is the number that should be used to obtain CAFE and it would currently require the average fleet consumption to be around 550 gallons. And yes it is possible to do and no more difficult than averaging mpg ratings. |
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Replying to: tpe (May 15, 2007 5:21 am) If CAFE were to get the automakers out of the equation and set the blame where it lies on the individual, we may see some results. |
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Replying to: gagrice (May 15, 2007 6:39 am)
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Replying to: gagrice (May 15, 2007 6:39 am) I would agree with that but on average I suspect that there isn't a big difference in how many annual miles are driven between the different vehicle types. Plus, he is using the roads four times as much and should be taxed extra for that. If automakers can successfully deliver the 100+ mpg plug-in hybrids that they are now developing the current gas tax system will have to eventually be overhauled. I wonder what kind of EPA mileage rating a vehicle like the Chevy Volt will get? Possibly over 100 mpg. With the current CAFE system if GM could sell these in any kind of numbers it would make it much easier for them to continue selling gas guzzlers and still be in compliance. Overall fuel consumption would go up but that is not a concern of CAFE. |
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Replying to: steve_ (May 15, 2007 6:46 am) Maybe a better plan for CAFE would be charge per mile. With first 15k miles  a penny per mile then jump to 3 cents per mile after that.
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Replying to: tpe (May 15, 2007 5:21 am) First, I urge you to drop the uncivil tone. You have no idea what is being 'grasped'. Stick to questions and answers, thank you. Second, I didn't claim to know how much each car consumed. I said that, considering the national fleet, it didn't matter, since that averages out over the entire fleet. While I don't believe that CAFE is effective... What empirical evidence do you have to support this claim?
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Replying to: tpe (May 15, 2007 4:51 am) you:It sure seems to me that you should be able to compute an average mpg from these figures. You can compute almost anything. But you can't directly compare average mpg with average gpm. The average of 2 numbers do not equate to the average of their inverses. |
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Replying to: gagrice (May 15, 2007 6:39 am) I think that would be a great idea. Political suicide for anyone that proposed it, but very constructive. Personally I feel the guy in a Prius driving 30k miles per year is more wasteful of fossil fuel than my driving 7500 miles per year in my PU truck. Without knowing what use it was for, how could you possibly know that? Since when is 'use' and 'waste' synonymous? If CAFE were to get the automakers out of the equation and set the blame where it lies on the individual, we may see some results. LOL, Americans feel no need to conserve unless it's right in their face. Sometimes, not even then. Just look at all the "support our troops" magnets on the back of big honkin gas guzzlin, grocery haulin SUVs. Total disconnect. |
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