Comments on: Obama To Announce Tougher Fuel Standards

By: Tully

Tully — Tue, 19 May 2009 21:56:58 +0000

Anyone have any info on how the new math is going to work?

Sure. You get the answer you want with fairy diust and rainbow unicorn farts.

By: kranky kritter

kranky kritter — Tue, 19 May 2009 16:47:00 +0000

WJ, if that’s so, then the article linked above definitely does not say so. In fact, in the only directly on point section I saw (granted, I skimmed) , it says:

To meet the new federal standards, auto companies will have to drastically change their product lineups in a relatively short time.

The companies have declined so far to comment on the costs involved in meeting a fleet standard of 35 miles a gallon. For starters, the automakers will probably have to sharply reduce the number of low-mileage models, like pickup trucks and large sedans.

Anyone have any info on how the new math is going to work? Obviously, if the average is calculated simply by averaging across various models without regard to how many of each model are sold, then the possibility exists that the new reported averages will sound good but achieve nothing. Suppose the car companies reduce their SUVs and pickups to one model each while offering way more models of small high efficiency vehicles. If folks keep buying the SUVs, trucks, and crossovers instead of little efficient 4-cylinder models that barely hold 4 people, nothing will be achieved.

At this point, what’s not been explained to me is what mechanism is going to make folks choose small efficient cars in greater numbers. Please, everyone, take the time to understand that if they just average the fuel efficiency of the various models, this number is meaningless unless an equal number of each is sold.

Let’s also not forget that the popularity of SUVs from the get-go was fostered by a loophole which allowed SUV’s to be classified as light trucks instead of passenger vehicles. In essence, categories were used to obscure the truth of what was going on with regard to efficiency of new vehicles.

By: wj

wj — Tue, 19 May 2009 14:39:12 +0000

What seems most significant about this announcement is that the mileage standard is not just being applied to the “fleet” overall. Rather, if I have understood correctly, there are apparently going to be standards for each class of vehicle. That is likely to bring a much bigger shift than anything else.

By: kranky kritter

kranky kritter — Tue, 19 May 2009 13:41:40 +0000

how does it makes sense that a state should be able to determine whether or not certain pollution levels are acceptable or how much mileage cars can have in their locale? In other words, there are some things that must be mandated by the federal government, and this is one of them. Which things fit in each of these categories is supposed to be proscribed by the constitution. If any given action is not enumerated by the constitution, it is supposed to be reserved for the states. If we the people want to change that, it's our right. We are supposed to amend the constitution to do so.