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White House Finalizes 54.5 MPG Fuel Efficiency Standard
The Obama Administration announced today it has finalized new fuel efficiency standards that will require new cars and light-duty trucks to have an average efficiency of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. This adds to the requirement that 2016's new cars must average 35.5 miles per gallon. "The final standards were developed by DOT’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and EPA following extensive engagement with automakers, the United Auto Workers, consumer groups, environmental and energy experts, states, and the public. Last year, 13 major automakers, which together account for more than 90 percent of all vehicles sold in the United States, announced their support for the new standards." According to the administration, the standards will reduce dependence on foreign oil, save money at the pump, protect the environment, and everything else that sounds good in an election year.
$10/gal for gas has really forced European manufacturers to produce 80 MPG cars and reduce the amount they drive. Oh wait....
sudo make me a sandwich
My insight's only 2000 pounds and gets very close to 90mpg (89.something). The 3000 pound Civic I testdrove using the same techniques scored over 60 mpg. That was the CVT version; the stick shift is probably better yet.
(Actual EPA ratings are 65 and 47 respectively.)
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
Not intended just for you, but for anyone who says "bigger cars are safer".
Here's what 50 years of automotive engineering has done. The driver of the '59 would have been dead. The '09 driver would have injured their knee.
A few hundred pounds lighter, almost triple the MPG (13 mpg vs 29 mpg), and is way safer.
To keep saying "bigger cars are safer, thus don't work on smaller cars" is not really thinking this through.
There's not a single car sold in America that gets 50+ mpg, which does not mean that such cars don't exist or are impossible
12 years ago I zipped all around Japan for a couple weeks in a Honda Today, got something like 60ish MPG, cruised right along at freeway speeds, power windows, AC -- it was a great car.
Here's an example of new minicar:
http://www.honda.co.jp/LIFE/webcatalog/spec/
The base model gets 22km/l (51.7mpg). The turbo 4wd model gets 18km/l (42.3 mpg).
This looks like an interesting microvan:
http://www.honda.co.jp/Nboxplus/
Efficiency range is 18.8 km/l (bigger engine 4wd) to 21.8 km/l (smaller engine FWD).
http://www.honda.co.jp/Nboxplus/webcatalog/spec/
Anyway, the reason we don't have cars with 55 mpg is merely because they aren't sold here. Not because of physics.
What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
In the town of Dimock, Pennsylvania, 13 water wells were contaminated with methane (one of them blew up). Arsenic, barium, DEHP, glycol compounds, manganese, phenol, and sodium were also found in unacceptable levels in the wells.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_hydraulic_fracturing_in_the_United_States
When I can't drink my own water because it combusts out of the tap next to a flame, I don't really give a fuck how fracking drives down natural gas prices.
All of this bickering is irrelevant. The test that the EPA uses to measure mileage does not include any 80mph or 70mph driving. In fact it is based on simulated driving and mostly stop-and-go conditions.
In fact the tests are done on a dynomometer so wind resistance isn't accounted for. I think it should be but the mileage standard the President is implementing will be based on the EPA test cycle, not you hauling ass down the freeway.
-- QED
There's not a single car for sale that gets 54mpg on the highway.
Here is a link listing 15 from 2009. http://www.autoblog.com/2009/10/02/report-all-of-europes-15-most-fuel-efficient-cars-get-better-t/ All sold in Europe. So there may be some market impediment to good mileage in cars in the US, but it ain't physics.
-- QED
So they'll just re-introduce the 55 MPH speed limit, which was done to save energy.
It depends entirely on the design of the car and engine. I get 4 additional miles per gallon (mpg) when cruising at 65 rather than 55. I was surprised and repeated the measurements several times. Verified the onboard computer's reported mpg against the odometer and actually gas consumed (top off at same fuel pump before and after).
Perhaps 55 was some sort of average efficiency point for vehicles of the 1970s but I expect a higher efficiency point with today's designs.
The full size Volvo V70 estate does ....wait for it... 54 miles per gallon.
Its mind blowing to sit here and watch a discussion where people question whether it is "Physically possible" to build such cars, or whether they will be around in 2025. You can buy (and many do) a full size family station wagon that does 54mpg! You don't have to get a "subcompact" or even a "compact"! http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/volvo/v70/first-drives/volvo-v70-1.6d-drive-se