35 mpg CAFE Bill Stalls in Senate After Passing the House
The U.S. Senate has forestalled an energy bill today that would increase the corporate average fuel economy standard to 35 mpg for cars and trucks by 2020 by failing to muster the 60 votes needed to move the bill to a vote.
Passing the house with a vote of 235-181 yesterday, the proposed bill would increase CAFE standards by the largest amount since they were put into place in 1975. Though many members of Congress supported even tougher mandated standards, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., called the bill “our generation’s declaration of independence
Comments
chartguy
This bill would have been total insanity. Doesn't anyone remember the 1970s? Trying to meet increases in pollution control and fuel economy nearly killed the US auto industry. They even skipped a model year of Corvettes.
People have the ability to decide for themselves what to buy. Despite much higher gas prices, they haven't shifted their purchasing decisions to ultra-frugal vehicles. Market forces do work, and they have shifted away from the most thirsty, but America is not ready to switch to driving a Toyota Yaris.
I just went to fueleconomy.gov, and looked it up.
Toyota Prius 45mpg
Toyota Yaris (stick) 36
Toyota Yaris (auto) 35
Honda Civic Hybrid (CVT) 45
Toyota Corolla (stick) 37
These are the ONLY cars that achieve 35mpg today. If there were easy ways to increase efficiency, they were tried in the 1970s. Then, the engineers went after the harder ways to do it (shutting down cylinders, variable valve timing, etc.). Does Congress expect engineers to create energy from nothing? The only way to achieve the milage rating is to build very small, very light, very underpowered vehicles.
Mena
You don't necessarily have to build small, light, underpowered vehicles to achieve the needed fuel economy but they'll have to be small, light, and underpowered in order to be affordable. In order to get a 35mpg average, uses of better tech will be needed and that costs money.
I don't think car companies will have a problem meeting the new figure but meeting them at a reasonable price point will be VERY difficult. And as always, the people with little money will be a hardest hit as they will be relegated to used cars as they'll be the only one's affordable.
My sports car with 260hp is quite capable of 30mpg (I get this on long trips....commutes are 28mpg) and my car has a base price of $28K. To get 5 MORE mpg will take some money as that car will have to do more than mine. How's $35K for an Accord or Camry sound? I can afford it but how many others can?
Ducati Minor
I've told you this before--your Camry is not a sports car.
Mena
LOL@Ducati. My car is a Pontiac Solstice GXP. I guess I wasn't clear (or I missed your joke). I'm trying to say that a sedan with 35mpg capability (Camry's and Accord's), would cost quite a bit of money and price them out of the average persons budget.
Mena
Ahhhhhh! Ignore the Camry and Accord part of my last post.
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