Senate Approves 35 MPG CAFE Standards By 2020, But Showdown Looms
The Senate has approved aggressive new Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards that raise the bar to 35 miles per gallon by 2020. Currently CAFE figures are distinct for cars (27.5 mpg) and trucks (22.5 mpg), but the new standards do not distinguish between vehicle types.
The compromise legislation took the form of an energy bill amendment, but did away with provisions to increase fuel economy annually by four percent each year after the 2020 35 mpg goal is reached. Also broomed was a $29 billion tax incentive package that would’ve given breaks to both plug-in hybrid owners and alternative fuel producers.
The Senate’s 65-27 vote is seen as an important step, but the new standards have a long way to go before they are enacted into law. Next, the bill goes to the House of Representatives for approval, and if it survives there, it will still have to avoid a presidential veto. The House is presently pushing forward with an energy bill that has no such fuel economy mandates, so it will be interesting to see if this new bill can pass muster.
+ Reuters: Senate approves fuel standard of 35 mpg by 2020 (via ABC News)
Comments
ryan
crap crap crap. so, now that OPEC has a good idea as to what the average new vehicle has to have economy-wise, they can do the easy math and figure out how much they need to inflate the barrel to make their money consistent or increase along the same timeline.
thanks congress!
Russ Bellinis
That hasn't changed. The cafe standards have been on the books forever it seems. Anybody can do the math and price their oil accordingly if they can get everybody else to agree to do the same.
Michael
The price of oil isn't the point here. By increasing the CAFE standards, they are taking a step at reducing our dependence on oil and lowering CO2 contributions from vehicles. This is a necessary step, and until people start personally searching for alternative sources of fuel, the oil companies are going to be making the big bucks whether they know the requirements or not.
Thom Harrop
As long as OPEC and the American oil cartel own Congress and the President, this is all just smoke and mirrors. In Europe they already have a 43 MPG standard and American car makers have no trouble meeting it. The EV-1 electric was actually a wild success but was killed by the oil companies.
How long is America going to be a slave to the economic interests of people who sell oil and bank billions? My guess is at least until the Whitehouse is not used to house their spokespeople.
Matt
Ryan, do you not understand supply and demand? If less oil is needed the prices can't go up because of that. If one supplier raises prices people will just buy from others that don't. OPEC tries to get all of its members to collude on the price they sell at, but they usually don't succeed in getting everyone to agree.
Greg
Ryan, you're an idiot.
Adam
It's a setp in the right direction but not nearly enough. There are already cars that get 35 mpg today, so all this is saying is that the auto industry can continue to make the same thing for the next 10 years. In fact we can't even sell Amerincan cars in some foreign counties simply because their governments won't allow for "low" fuel economy. Our legal representatives have thr right intent, but need to push further if we really are to lean our need on forien oil. Accept the fact that prices are always going to go up, let's just do what we have to do.
Bede Fahey
Sounds like great news, lets just hope that the world isn't harmed too much in the next 13 years. Requiring the transport authority to have 50% of vehicles able to run on alternatives is a great step. I look forward to seeing how this bill progresses, though I am concerned about the "If such sources [the alternatives mentioned above] are available and affordable" footnote that has been tacked on to the bottom of the 50% sales part of the document.
Michael is right, the point isn't the price of oil, but the dependence (some would say addiction) that the US has on it.
-Bedeo
Http://ourworldback.blogspot.com
Jeremy
Oil companies don't "price" thier oil anyway. The market does that. Now, let's say you had a globe dominating death squad capable of say, occupying contries rich in oil, and then refusing to defend said oil supply (until such time as it is legally guaranteed that the oil supply in question has been secured for use by anyone by private interests allied with the occupier - they're working on it)thereby disrupting production. You'd be able to "control" prices and increase profits for secure oil suppliers.
That being said, I agree with Michael. This bill has to do with envrionmental protection and lowered dependence on foreign oil.
Now hear this: Nothing will ever bring gas prices down significantly. They only go up from here. Lowering our foreign oil intake may theoretically slow the rate of increases in oil price, but global demand is on such an irreversible upswing that I doubt anyone will notice. This issue should be looked at as more of a necessity, more of an urgency, and as a national security issue. As much as I hate to say it, being a person who cares about the environment, this national security problem as it relates to oil is the 800 lb. gorrilla standing over us. Not global warming. I say this not to minimize the importance of environmental issues, rather to emphasize the importance of energy security.
The Stig
I would be shocked if this bill actually survives completely intact through all the legislation. Just seems like more smoke and mirrors IMO
Mike
Because we have such spineless representatives in leadership of our country, we will never have a good energy policy. They are not moral people, just greedy persons. All politicians are beholden to some entity as long as they are getting paid. We the people pay them a salary, but I guess, not enough, so they take our votes and they take the special interest bribe.
Mena
Adam, this isn't about one car or a few cars, this is an average across the board of ALL of their cars. Basically, more fuel efficient cars must be sold in order to balance out the poorer fuel mileage of trucks and SUV's. Only problem is that 1/2 ton trucks top the list as the most sold vehicles. So basically, car manufacturers will have to hope that Americans will stop or severely slow demand for trucks and increase demand for cars so that they can produce enough cars to meet the new standards. I don't think it'll happen but it'll be fun to watch.
Mena
Thom, you can't compare the American market to the European one. It's easier for you guys to meet your 43 mpg standard because you simply have FAR less cars and FAR shorter distances to travel. I live 3000 miles from the majority of my family and they're in the same country!!! Most of my wife's family lives (which is in the same area of the country - southwest) is over 500 miles away. Vacation areas (state and national parks, beaches, museums, zoo's) are anywhere from 100-500+ miles away. Could we fly? Fat chance. Have you ever flown a family of 4 (the American average) on a plane? Expensive!!!!!!! Then we would need to rent a car (no public transportation unless you visit a city and good luck getting a few million people on vacation on a bus) to get around at our destination. Not to mention the security at airports. Just thinking about it gives me a headache. No thanks, I'll drive.
Just to give you an idea of what we're dealing with here: We have a population of 300 million. The state of Texas alone is larger than the Ukraine which is the largest country in Europe. We got some seriously empty stretches of nothing here. And we're ALL spread out all over the place.
ryan
@ matt and greg.
sorry guys, i'm not an idiot. but even i can use quick math and an understanding of a quasi-monopoly to work this out.
if the average car uses 27.5 mpg NOW.... and we're paying 3.50 for gas (again, just for math)...
if they require you to change it to 35, and you still want to make your profits relative to where they are now, you're saying that it should be around 2.75 to go the same amount of distance (again, just using basic supply and demand ratios). if i were an oil comany, i'd cut production to watch demand go up (because i'm changing my SUPPLY, as i have COMPLETE control, and causing DEMAND, because they don't mention any incentive to look at other techonogies in these CAFE guidelines), raising my prices to $4.45/gallon to make the ratio the same. AND that's just for cars. i didn't average the CAFE standards now. if i do, it comes out to $4.90/gallon.
but the whole concept should be looking at ALTERNATIVES for those things, instead of giving the oil companies the chance to change things for themselves.
maybe i'm not explaining this correctly. however, if you're an avid car person like i am, go take a look at Car and Driver
i so hope that link worked. i'm not good at embedding. if not, i'll post it immediately thereafter this post...
ryan
yay it did! hooray for hyperlinking!
AC
The 35 mpg rate hike doesn't concern me. I feel that's a solid number and attainable. The 4% annual increase thereafter has me worried. This was tried and achieved in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, but automakers made up for the added engineering costs by tacking it on the sticker price for their vehicles.
Thom, the typical European automobile is about two classes smaller than one in the United States. As gas sells in the States for an average of $3 per gallon, it averages around $7 in Europe thanks to a high gas tax. As you type your complaint, SUVs are enjoying their biggest sales boom in the continent.
Mena
Good link Ryan!!!
Tom
Why does my car have to subsidize your truck?
fantasyfreddy
they could do this overnight by switching to diesel.. granted, the U.S. manufacturers would have to license the "clean diesel" engine technology from Honda, or invent one themselves.. but surely they can do one or the other!! by 2020 they can probably come up with 60 mpg averages, or higher, if they so desire!
Jeff
I'm with Tom. I'd also point out that we've been able to get 45+mpg from non-hybrids for over 20 years now. People that whine about higher fuel economy standards are simply trying to cover up their own selfishness. They'd rather drive a gas guzzler with capabilities they'll never use than drive something more economical.
George
I like the idea of a Diesel engine vehicle, I have friends in the UK who drive them(Corolla's)I also own a Diesel Tractor here in Canada, I do think its considered "dirty" by todays standards but it gets great mileage/kms on a small tank of diesel fuel, have had it over 16 years and little maintenance required.
will
35mpg by 2020? Low standards. Should be 2015. BMW has a diesel twin-turbo V8 with 282hp/near 400lb-ft in the 545d that gets 45mpg- The technology is more than there. Implementing and making it 'the institution' may be a mild hassle at first but there's more to stake than profit margins. The only thing stopping it is Americans' negative Stigma thanks to years of smoky diesels and American truck owners that don't maintain their vehicles.
Thank God for Mercedes for pushing Bluetec now, and selling it to VW- BMW, Audi and others are soon to follow in bringing their diesels to the states.
"Why does my car have to subsidize your truck?" Brilliantly put, Tom.
AC
There is a lot of misinformation coming from the diesel crowd on the Web. Diesel folks seem to enjoy touting extremely high fuel economy numbers, often from European (UK) listings. There are different standards in measuring miles-per-gallon (yes, mpg is a listed measurement in Europe). The Mercedes R320 CDI has a UK rating of 30 mpg overall. The US rating for the R320 CDI is 24.5 mpg overall. The diesel crowd condemns the Prius for its EPA mileage standard, but the UK combined average is rated at 66 mpg.
As for Honda, the UK Civic 2.2i diesel has a combined rating of 55 mpg. The UK Civic Hybrid 1.4i has a rating of 61 mpg. So much for diesel engines producing better mileage over petrol-electrics. Price isn't an issue, either. The diesel Civic starts at £16,200 is the most basic trim. The petrol-electric Civic is priced just £400 more.
David
Many of these posts are right on. But, the real issue is that a certain special interest group has totally brainwashed the people and totally controlled the left wing in politics to the extent that today we can no longer enjoy our national parks, can no longer extract oil from our own countries vast supply, can no longer build refineries to refine the product even if we could extract it. In fact, a significant number of citizens actually believe all of the stuff they teach using unscientific data which they say is scientifically proven to make their invalid points.
So, what do we do about it? Nothing like we always do. We will continue to vote in politicians that are influeanced by special interest groups rather than establish an initiative to develop our own resources and make them work for us. It will be interesting to see what happens when the middle east can no longer supply energy (oil and refinned product) due to continued wars (and that will happen)to the US ability to handle its needs. To see what happens when the price of the average car sold is so high that the average person can not afford one anymore (and that time is almost here) and the auto companies close their doors. I could go on, but why? We won't do anything about it anyway!
klarens
mena,
it's true that you can't compare europe and america. but i can't agree that the europeans doesn't travel that much as the americans. to have a good standart for european is not how big is your house, car or rims. is just how long you've been on vacation. don't laugh. i'm from europe and i remember how many germans and englands were in my country every summer and winter at hte resorts.
it's true they drive smaller cars then here, much lighter with smaller engines, wich is giving them better mpg(there is how many litters for 100 kms, hte average is around 6-10 l(1,5-2,5gal) for 100kms(62ms).but there is one more thing the octane number here is a lot less than europe.regular is 87, premium is 92-93, for europe regular is 91.gas with better quality is giving you better performance and better mileage.
tom many people realy sorry about ev-1.for these who doesn't know what it is: www.sonyclassics.com/whokilledtheelectriccar/
Val
Why would anyone compare a 1.4 litre petrol engine to a 2.2 CDTi engine from honda and say that the 1.4 has better mileage is beyond me... Maybe if you compared it to a 1.5 Cdi from renault or PSA it would seem more realistic. The 2.2 has musch more power than the 1.4 and much better torqe curve, its logical that it will cost much more. Until honda develop a smaller diesel, the only model comparable in price would be the 2.0 petrol engine (not Type R)
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