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 Location : Ether-Sphere
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 |  Subject: Idiot Statists Demand Technological Progress By Edict--Motherfuckers!  Tue Apr 22, 2008 8:53 pm | |
| Auto industry should tell 'em to go fuck themselves... and do it themselves... scum!
Auto Makers Must Improve Fuel Economy By 25% By 2015
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Auto makers will be required to meet a 35.7 miles- per-gallon fuel standard for cars by 2015, while light trucks will have to meet a standard of 28.6 mpg, the Department of Transportation said Tuesday.
The combined standard of 31.6 miles per gallon represents a 25% increase over current federal fuel-economy standards, and is more aggressive than required by last year's law setting fuel-economy targets for 2020.
"This proposal will help us all breathe a little easier by reducing carbon dioxide emissions from tailpipes, cutting fuel consumption and making driving a little more affordable," Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters said in an announcement timed to coincide with Earth Day.
Congress mandated a fleetwide combined standard for cars and trucks of 35 miles per gallon by 2020 in last year's energy bill. It left the Bush administration some latitude in determining how, and how fast, automakers must get there.
The proposed rule announced Tuesday sets those interim standards. The combined 31.6 mpg standard, up from about 25 mpg under the old requirement, would get the fleet more than halfway to the 2020 goal by 2015.
Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass. helped write the new Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, law. He praised the DOT's proposed rule as "aggressive" in a Tuesday statement. "After years of fighting a fuel-economy increase, the Bush administration is showing faith in the American auto industry's ability to reform," he said.
The proposed requirement would represent an average fuel economy improvement of 4.5% per year. That is more than the 3.3% annual increase called for under last year's law.
Peters said at a press conference that the improved fuel economy will save 55 billion gallons over the life of vehicles sold between 2010 and 2015.
Two-thirds of that savings would come from light trucks, where fuel-efficient technology offerings are fewer and less popular than in the passenger car market.
DOT estimates that it will cost automakers $47 billion to meet those requirements.
Officials at the National Highway Safety Traffic Administration, which wrote the proposed rule, assigned fuel economy mandates to each automaker based on the characteristics of their individual fleets and product plans.
They used "footprint" size, or area between a vehicle's four wheels, as a key variable in setting standards for individual automakers. The smaller the vehicles in the fleet, the more stringent a fuel-economy standard the manufacturer will have to meet.
That puts a larger burden on makers of high-performance sports and luxury cars. Under the DOT rule, Porsche would have to meet a fleetwide standard of 41.3 miles per gallon by 2015 for passenger cars, while BMW faces a 37.7 mpg requirement. That compares with the 35.7 mpg average for all passenger car manufacturers.
Chrysler must meet a 33.6 mpg standard for passengers by 2015, the lowest, or least fuel-efficient, among Detroit's Big Three. General Motors faces a 34.7 mpg fleetwide mandate, while Ford's requirement is 35.5 mpg.
For light trucks, including sport utility vehicles, the bar is set lowest for General Motors at 27.4 mpg, then Ford at 28.8 mpg, and lastly Chrysler at 29.1 mpg. All are well under DOT's average for all makers of light trucks of 31.6 mpg.
Auto makers called the rule tough, but said they will comply. "Four and a half percent over this period is very aggressive," said Edward Cohen, vice president of government relations at Honda North America. "This is requiring two to three times the normal technology improvement than what we have historically had."
Environmentalists said the rule falls short of the "maximum achievable" fuel economy Congress required. "Automakers today have technology sitting on their shelves that could cost-effectively improve fuel economy," said Jim Kliesch, senior engineer with the Union of Concerned Scientists. "Today's proposal would leave us stuck in second gear."
Kliesch criticized DOT's assumptions on the cost of gasoline and the benefit of removing carbon emissions from the atmosphere.
The NHTSA standards were set using a cost-benefit analysis that weighed the cost burden on manufacturers against benefits to consumers, the largest of which is savings from having to purchase less gasoline.
NHTSA assumed an average price of $2.86 per gallon of gasoline. That figure, based on a Department of Energy estimate, assumes a leveling-off and decrease of gas prices from current levels.
Had NHTSA assumed a higher price of gasoline, it would have showed more potential benefit in the form of savings at the pump, and thus led to a more stringent standard.
"It's really the best information that we have to rely on," said Ron Medford, senior associate administrator for vehicle safety at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Under the proposed rule, the mandate for passenger cars ramps up rapidly in the first three years, from 27.5 miles per gallon in 2010 to 34 in 2013. It then tapers off during the final two years by adding less than 1 mile per gallon a year.
That scheduled partly reflects the fact that the fleet of passenger cars is already well above 27.5 miles per gallon, as sales of hybrids and other fuel- efficient cars have grown in recent years.
LNK
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“The state calls its own violence law, but that of the individual, crime.”-- Max Stirner
"Remember: Evil exists because good men don't kill the government officials committing it." -- Kurt Hofmann |
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