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Has CAFE reached the end of its usefulness? - READ ONLY

560 messages,  Last post on Dec 08, 2012 at 3:14 PM

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What is this discussion about? Fuel Efficiency (MPG)

Messages Page 56 of 56

#551 of 560 the new standard may be flawed by benjaminh

Nov 13, 2011 (6:21 am)

The president of Hyundai America, John K., has slammed the new standards because of their needless complexity and loopholes. He has a point. Essentially cars are held to a very strict standard, while large pickup trucks and SUVs are essentially given a complete pass and only need to make a small improvement, even by 2025. In other words, the unintended consequences of this might be to switch people from cars to large SUVs and Trucks.
 
I still believe in CAFE, but bummer on the loophole...
 
In terms of safety regs, it seems they have worked. Fatalities per passenger mile driven have dropped something like 70% since the 1960s...

#552 of 560 54.50 or fight by steve_ HOST

Nov 16, 2011 (2:52 pm)

"A new consumer survey by Consumer Reports finds that not only do most consumers want more fuel economy – no surprise there – but most also are willing to pay extra to get it as long as they will be rewarded with lower fuel and other operating costs during the years they own the vehicle.
 
The Consumer Reports poll seems to indicate that people now believe that gas prices aren’t going to be falling over the long term and likely will be rising. Indeed, of the 564 respondents who said they would consider an alternatively powered vehicle such as a hybrid of electric vehicle, 89 percent said that their prime motivation would be to lower their vehicle operating costs, including fuel costs."
 
Poll Finds We're Willing to Pay Extra For More MPG (AutoObserver)
 
Or ... maybe CR statistics are questionable?
 
"The rub is that consumers are not buying them – or at least not very many of them. In October, sales of small cars slowed and sales of advanced-drive vehicles (hybrids, electric cars, diesels, etc.) fell yet again in year-to-year comparisons, registering just barely over 2 percent of all U.S. vehicle sales".
 
Consumer Reports Survey Flawed (AutoObserver)

#553 of 560 and the rule is 54.5 by steve_ HOST

Nov 16, 2011 (2:59 pm)

"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced aggressive new rules to raise the fuel efficiency of cars, SUVs and pickup trucks. The Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFÉ, standards require an automaker’s fleet of passenger vehicles to average 54.5 mpg by 2025.
 
The talked-about 2025 CAFE standard — usually described as 54.5 mpg — amounts to a figure of 36 mpg combined [highway and city driving] on a window sticker,” writes Dan Edmunds, director of vehicle testing at Edmunds.com, on the company’s detailed CAFÉ explainer."
 
Can Cars Meet the New 54 mpg CAFÉ Standards? Yes They Can (Sscientific American)

#554 of 560 it's already working by benjaminh

Nov 18, 2011 (6:50 am)

Looks what BMW has done with the new 2012 500 series:
 
528i
 
    2.0L 4-cyl. engine
    Automatic transmission
    Up to 23 cty/34 hwy mpg
 
Amazing. 20 years ago, in 1992, a BMW 525i got 15 in the city and 23 on the highway.
 
And the new car is actually larger, safer, and more powerful. I think that's a 32% increase in highway fuel economy. How did BMW do it? Through a small turbo 4 that has the power of a V-8 from 20 years ago, plus an 8 speed automatic transmission....

#555 of 560 not energy independent yet, but... by steve_ HOST

Nov 29, 2011 (6:48 pm)

"U.S. exports of gasoline, diesel and other oil-based fuels are soaring, putting the nation on track to be a net exporter of petroleum products in 2011 for the first time in 62 years.
 
A combination of booming demand from emerging markets and faltering domestic activity means the U.S. is exporting more fuel than it imports, upending the historical norm."
 
U.S. Nears Milestone: Net Fuel Exporter (Wall St. Journal)

#556 of 560 CAFE in the real-world ? by steve_ HOST

Feb 05, 2012 (12:33 pm)

Hot on the heels of the news about the Honda hybrid missing fuel economy advertising claims and losing lawsuits over it, comes this test from Popular Mechanics.
 
Mileage Moment of Truth: We Put 40 Mpg Claims to the Test
 
PM's results were a bit different from Consumer Watchdog's claims based on CR's testing. (prnewswire.com)

#557 of 560 Help CAFE by staying out of the café. by steve_ HOST

May 01, 2012 (7:24 am)

"Thanks to the starling rise in obesity, every year Americans consumer at least a billion gallons more gas today than they would if people were as trim as they were in 1960," says The Atlantic. "For every additional pound of passenger weight, the United States uses up another 39 million gallons of fuel each year."
 
Obesity is the Newest Fuel Economy Demon (Straightline)

#558 of 560 corn in the CAFE by steve_ HOST

Aug 18, 2012 (3:55 pm)

LaHood: 2025 fuel rules will be unveiled 'soon'
 
And a bit related:
 
Court tosses E15 challenge
 
(both links from the Detroit News)

#559 of 560 gaming the system? by steve_ HOST

Dec 07, 2012 (8:06 pm)

The feds' five-cycle, 43.9-mile testing methodology is arcane—almost 200 pages in the Federal Register, including the CAFE calculations—but that shouldn't surprise anyone, since the process attempts to capture a complex phenomenon, a vehicle's fuel economy, in just two numbers printed on new cars' so-called Monroney label. Even the EPA's "average" mpg number is weighted in a way not beyond dispute.
 
It would be hard to overstate the consequence of these numbers. The numbers determine which vehicle can claim best-in-class mileage, who has to pay a gas-guzzler tax, and which technologies merit their relative cost in fuel savings. CAFE was designed to inflect a manufacturer's entire portfolio, to bend it toward higher fuel efficiency, and it does just that.
 
[T]the feds' fuel-economy administrators are currently operating at a dead run trying to keep up with a host of new, highly digitized fuel-saving technologies, such as "Eco" throttle mapping and stop-start (the engine cuts out as the vehicle coasts or stops), which were practically invented to hack the EPA testing cycle."
 
Ford's Fine C-Max Falls Way Short on MPG Wall St. Journal

#560 of 560 Re: gaming the system? [steve_] by kcram HOST

Dec 08, 2012 (3:14 pm)

Replying to: steve_ (Dec 07, 2012 8:06 pm)
While it's far from the best or mist accurate testing method, the one thing CAFE has going for it is the unilateral consistency. For the most part, you're comparing apples when you compare EPA numbers across manufacturers. Yes, Hyundai/Kia just got caught cheating, and there's no legit way to test the "fuel economy" of an electric vehicle, but for 99% of the buyers out there, it's a tool they can actually use.

Messages Page 56 of 56

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