Posted on 09/17/2012 9:43:07 PM PDT by Olog-hai
A new US fuel efficiency standard finalised by the Obama administration last month will jolt America’s nascent electric car industry to life, but could leave European auto manufacturers racing to catch up, analysts and industry sources say. From 2025, American cars and light trucks will have to achieve a standard of at least 54.5 miles per gallon (mpg) under the new regulation, higher than can be achieved by any existing fuel-powered cars, according to the US Department of Energy.
The only cars on the US market which exceed the 54.5 mpg target (measured as mpg equivalent) are at least partly powered by plug-in electricity, the US Environmental Protection Agency says.
This could spell trouble for Europe's electric car industry as a ‘thought experiment’ by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) has found that the US target surpasses its EU equivalent by some distance. …
(Excerpt) Read more at euractiv.com ...
It means our government subsidies are bigger than theirs.
By the time Soetoro’s new “fuel efficiency standards” kick in, he’ll be cooling his heels on some beach in Hawaii. Those of us who work for a living with tell them what they can do with their “fuel efficiency standards” and Soetoro won’t even give a ****.
And even more trouble for American drivers.
Remarkable, an industry whose product nobody wants.
54 mpg.
Like the 10 Commandments.
A great standard, with which none can comply.
54.5 mpg? I guess we’ll all be driving hybrid roller skate cars.
I wish we could get their fuel sipping diesels over here. Damn EPA.
VW has a 55 mpg turbo diesel. I am sure they are shaking in their boots at Obama’s demand that years from now we will average close to that.
So when a penny stock surpasses another penny stock... it’s big news?
Ship all the crap to Europe and make electric cars illegal here!!!!
Does household electricity cost more or less than gasoline?
Obviously, there are many moving variables here - vehicle MPG, local electric rates, local gasoline price.
Is there a generally accepted equation to compare electricity costs against gasoline costs?
No.
The equivalent mpg of an electric vehicle will be a very large function of vehicle weight (as it is for gasoline cars) and $/KwH which varies even more than gasoline across the country.
The Government can no more set the efficiency of an electric vehicle by proclamation than it can set the speed of light.
BMW has demonstrated a 380 hp sports sedan that gets around 45 MPG.
Unless there is some really major breakthrough with with battery storage technology, electric cars will remain nothing more than glorified golf carts. Nice for short trips to and from the supermarket or work of a a few miles perhaps , but impractical for longer trips or stop and go commercial use.
Even short trips can be problematic if you need air conditioning on a hot day or heating on a cold winter day because heaters and air conditioners really eat up power fast.
Was part of an engineering design team for for an electric car project intended to meet California's Utopian electric car mandate and the car needed to be like a heavily insulated rolling ice chest to reduce the loads on the heater and “air conditioner” which at it's best was marginal even in reasonably temperate areas. Glass had to be cut to a minimum to cut heat loss and save weight which made for less visibility out of the car than people are used to which reduced safety considerably.
Phoenix at 117 degree summer day was not doable, nor was the -20 degree weather in the North during the winter. America has poured billions of dollars into the development of the technology needed to make a practical electric car and we are still not anywhere near being able to build one that is any more than an expensive status symbol or play toy for rich, upscale urban yuppies who are trying to make a statement.
Even if US industry can make cars at 54.5mpg, it doesnt mean they will sell. Sure fuel economy is important, but its not the only criterion people use to determine which car to buy, or even the main one.
Basically this "article" uses a lot of words but doesn't actually say anything. Deliberately confusing.
well, electric vehicles have their place — in vehicles that need a smooth torque curve and have a lot of stop and start. I see buses and milk-vans and paper delivery vans as very good examples. However, for most folks in the US who live in suburban or rural areas, this does not apply
If this standard sticks, old cars are going to increase in value. People will be hoarding them. It would be like Cuba where they keep a 1958 Chevy running as an everyday car.
Of course, the EPA will make make sure this never happens by making them illegal.
The whole thing is a pipe dream. This is one step short of legislating Pi = 3. That mileage will only occur because we’re all driving Yarises and such.
It is long past time to take CAFE out behind the barn and kill it with an ax. Gov’t has no business dictating CAFE. Standards for measuring reported fuel economy, Yes. What that economy shall be, No.
Article 1, Section 8: “To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;”
54.5 mpg target? Like tax increases improve an economy—impossibly incoherent.
http://hallicino.hubpages.com/hub/Top-50-Best-MPG-Motorcycles
That is why this list of the 50 best fuel mileage motorcycles is approximate to the max and is most assuredly not definitive or all-encompassing. It is only a rough guide to some of the more fuel efficient motorcycles (not scooters) on the road today that get 50 MPG or more.
Each of those puts out far more pollution than even a Ford Expedition, though.
It will not be long before the EPA clamps down.
The 54.5mpg CAFE number is not the same as the EPA number, though. The EPA equivalent is much lower than that.
54.5mpg CAFE is something like 44 on the EPA window sticker.
There is a chart comparing CAFE to EPA. It varies a lot by vehicle class.
In what way... DEBT?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LLS
This one is confusing me. There is no US electric car industry to speak of.
***********************
You are not a good prole. Go back and stand in line with the rest of the proles waiting to drink the “truth drink.”
How can you possibly think this article is in error.....it is straight from the head of the Ministry of Truth.
(Orwell...1984)
Maybe golf courses and supermarkets.
buses
I think regenerative flywheel, or nitrogen over hydraulic technology blows the doors off the failed battery-powered experimentation.
LNG diesel looks pretty cut and dried as well.
golf courses yes, but the electric torque curve is very effective for city buses. That’s why milk-vans in the UK have been electric for a very long time without any govt involvement — because they make sense for start-stop vehicles.
Only real effective electric buses are trolleybuses (AKA trackless trolleys). Wire beats battery every time.
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