Cars will cost more due to the 54.5 mpg regulations. The government says drivers will save more than that on gas. Auto dealers aren’t so sure.
How will the average mileage for car manufacturers meet this rigorous standard? No one really knows. The 54 mpg standard is achieved under lab testing only. Actual mileage will be high 30s to low 40s. Natural gas engines are weighted different than gas. Manufacturers can get credits for improving air conditioning. This sounds a bit convoluted, doesn’t it?
The new regulation isn’t strictly a fuel-consumption rule. Rather, it limits the amount of carbon dioxide a vehicle may emit to 163 grams per mile, Hwang noted. The amount of carbon dioxide coming out the tailpipe, however, is directly related to the amount of fuel burned.
Truckers, whose diesels are increasingly regulated with mandated emissions reduction say the new diesels are already more expensive to mainstain and get worse mileage.
I doubt that fuel per mile will get less expensive with higher mileage;. The price per gallon will just go up and up . . .
I totally agree. All that better gas mileage is met with higher and higher gas prices. We need a solution that requires no combustion. Like m a g n e t i c generators that required no power to create energy than what they are able to produce on their own. Imagine no more fueling up or plugging in. Not to mention the benefits it will have on the environment from no more drilling and pollutants pumped into our environment (ground, air, water). The problem is the job loss and the corporate income loss of such a proposed power generation technology. So there is hostility from a lot of people who are fond of dirty energy and have an invested interest in making sure they can milk as much profit as they can out of it by keeping us addicted to the pump and coal.
The same was said about proposals for moving the gas standard up to 25 and 30 mpg just a decade or so ago… And where is that now? Cheep cars (smart, kia, etc) all able to exceed the standards…
The same was said about proposals for moving the gas standard up to 25 and 30 mpg just a decade or so ago… And where is that now? Cheep cars (smart, kia, etc) all able to exceed the standards…
Good point about the progress being made, but the 54 mpg is a fleet standard, not just for individual cars.
Good point about the progress being made, but the 54 mpg is a fleet standard, not just for individual cars.