The US Department of Transportation, along with the US Environmental Protection Agency, have announced increasingly stringent fuel economy standards as part of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Corporate Average Fuel Economy programme and the Clean Air Act for 2012-2016.
The standards outline the following:
- Car makers must improve fleet-wide fuel economy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by approximately five per cent every year beginning in model year 2012.
- By model year 2016, the industry-wide fleet must reach an average fuel economy of 34.1mpg.
- By model year 2016, manufacturers must achieve a combined average vehicle emission level of 250g of CO2/mile.
It is hoped that the standards will help achieve the following goals:
- To reduce CO2 by about 960million metric tons over the lifetime of the vehicles regulated.
- Conserve around 1.8billion barrels of oil over their lifetime.
- Enable the average 2016 car buyer to enjoy net savings of around $3,000 over the lifetime of the vehicle.
The rules were originally proposed in September with more than 130,000 public comments since – the comments overwhelmingly supported a strong national policy. Now manufacturers will be expected to meet these standards with a more widespread adoption of conventional technologies that are currently in use and/or by pursuing more advanced fuel saving technologies such as hybrid and electric cars.
Paul is a freelance writer with a background in everything from motoring to finance; and holidays to women's undergarments he just writes about them, honestly! He has now sadly crept into his early 30s and seems to have forgotten everything learned at school Still, he's a green car fanatic and isn't that what counts?
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