peterrgreenaa: Obama Mileage Mandate Will Fuel Auto Disaster

Monday 3 September 2012

Obama Mileage Mandate Will Fuel Auto Disaster | JunkScience.com

On the same day the administration releases rules mandating a near-doubling of fuel economy standards, GM announces it is suspending production of its plug-in hybrid Volt amid disappointing sales.

The latest ?corporate average fuel economy? (CAFE) standards will require the average fuel economy of all the cars an automaker sells to admost double to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025.

Automakers largely back the new standard. Lots of fuel-saving technologies exist today, with more in the offing, they say. But the industry also admits the mandate will require significant change in the kind of cars automakers build and sell.

?Electric vehicles will play a huge role in getting there,? Wade Newton of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers told IBD. That?s because traditional gas-powered cars today come nowhere near that 2025 goal. And whether they ever will isn?t clear.

Even the tiny Smart car gets just 36 miles a gallon. And no hybrid on the market today meets Obama?s mileage goal. Plus the rules will require every car, large and small, to dramatically improve its fuel economy.

The Honda Fit would need to get 61 mpg by 2025, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. That?s double what it gets today. How Honda can possibly close that gap is anyone?s guess.

In contrast, the EPA gives electric cars huge ?miles per gallon equivalent? ratings. The all-electric Nissan Leaf gets a 99 ?mpge? rating, the Volt a 60.

That, along with generous credits for electric cars in the new CAFE rule, means automakers will have little choice but to try to push plug-in cars onto the market. This might please Obama, who wants a million electric cars on the road by 2015. But it?s small comfort to consumers, who clearly aren?t interested in buying them.

IBD