Free Republic

The Biden administration announced on April 1 it is raising requirements for fuel efficiency, reversing a rollback by the Trump administration.New vehicles sold in the United States will have to travel an average of at least 49 miles per gallon of gasoline in 2026 under the new federal rules. The requirement would have been at 32 mpg if going by rules under the Trump administration.Specifically, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said fuel efficiency requirements will increase by 8 percent annually for 2024 and 2025 model years, and 10 percent annually for model year 2026.The Trump administration had in...

New analysis of projected provincial gas tax revenues in Ontario has revealed that that source of provincial funding will fall much more dramatically than predicted just five years ago due to increased use of electric vehicles and other factors. And so, concludes Trent University professor emeritus Harry Kitchen in a new report titled Ontario’s Downward Trend for Fuel Revenue: Will Road Pricing Fill the Gap?, the provincial government must look for other sources of revenues to build transportation infrastructure. Kitchen recommends road pricing, such as tolls and HOT lanes, with funds raised earmarked for future transportation improvements, and dynamic parking...

INDIANAPOLIS — Gov. Eric Holcomb will not take action to toll Indiana's interstate highways during his tenure in office, a decision that a key Region lawmaker believes betrays the goals of the state road funding plan Holcomb enacted last spring. The Republican chief executive on Thursday transmitted to the State Budget Committee an interstate tolling plan crafted by the Indiana Department of Transportation, as required by House Enrolled Act 1002 sponsored by state Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso. The plan details how the state could collect approximately $15 billion for road improvements between 2024 and 2045 by imposing tolls of up...

The Trump administration recently proposed the Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles Rule. The proposed rule offers modifications to Obama-era Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards with a “preferred alternative” for model years 2021 through 2026. Without a doubt, the Trump administration’s proposed revision is a welcome victory for consumers’ wallets and for consumer choice. The Obama administration implemented fuel-efficiency mandates that would force auto manufacturers to have a fleetwide fuel-economy average of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. The new rule’s “preferred” change would maintain the existing fuel-economy mandate through 2020 (increasing to 37 mpg) and keep the level at...

Daimler Trucks North America’s (DTNA) SuperTruck program has achieved 115 percent freight efficiency improvement – surpassing the Department of Energy (DOE) program’s goal of 50 percent improvement and exhibiting the best results of all reporting OEMs. Testing was also conducted at the DTNA Detroit engineering facility to demonstrate engine efficiency by achieving 50.2 percent engine brake thermal efficiency. The final SuperTruck demonstrator ran a five-day, 312-mile round trip route on Texas Interstate 35 between San Antonio and Dallas, at a weight of 65,000 lbs GVWR at a speed of 65 mph, where it achieved an average result of 12.2 mpg.Solutions...

Drivers who find that the fuel efficiency in their new car doesn’t match up to the claims made by the manufacturer, now know it is not their driving to blame. A new report reveals that car makers routinely manipulate official UN-backed miles/gallons tests, with a series of tricks including stripping the car down to weigh as little as possible, overinflating the tires and testing in the thin air at high-altitude tracks. The tricks of the trade are listed in a report by the Transport & Environment campaign group (T&E), which suggests the official fuel consumption cited by car manufacturers is...

Automakers are pushing back against an Obama administration proposal that would almost double vehicle fuel-efficiency standards, launching a new ad campaign warning of hundreds of thousands of job losses across the country. The White House has long been negotiating with automakers and environmentalists over the enormous increase in fuel efficiency standards. But the automakers, who say the standards would stagger the auto industry, appear to be losing faith in the possibility of a compromise. President Obama was hoping to get automakers to sign off on a nearly 100 percent increase in mileage standards by 2025, aiming for another Rose Garden...

Environmentalism: Sales of those planet-killing SUVs and trucks are rising while sales of "all-electric" vehicles are slower than expected. Saving the planet takes a back seat to safety and comfort. Ever since the first Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards were enacted, Americans have consistently rejected efforts by government and environmentalists to force them to drive what many deride as "clown cars." They've opted instead for full-size cars, SUVs and trucks that can actually carry a family and all its stuff in comfort and safety. The auto industry was particularly hard hit during this recession, so it's interesting to learn...

On April 1, the Obama administration’s EPA issued final rules forcing automakers to increase their vehicles’ fuel economy by 40 percent in five years. The next day, the very same EPA favorably reviewed an ethanol fuel mandate that would force autos to get up to 5 percent worse fuel economy. You can’t make this stuff up. Follow us here. By the same date — 2015 — that the new 35.5 mpg EPA mandate is due to go into effect, oil companies are also mandated by Congress to double the amount of corn ethanol use (from 2007 levels) to 15 billion...

WASHINGTON – Automakers are being pushed to build a more fuel-efficient generation of gas-electric hybrids, turbocharged engines and advanced vehicles powered by electricity under tough new standards from the Obama administration. Final rules to be signed Thursday by the Transportation Department and the Environmental Protection Agency come after carmakers posted modest gains in the distance a car can travel on a gallon of gas. The rules require 2016 model year vehicles to meet fuel efficiency targets of 35.5 miles per gallon combined for cars and trucks, an increase of nearly 10 mpg over current standards set by the National Highway...

DETROIT (Reuters) - There's a simple way to get Americans to drive fuel-efficient cars, according to auto executives, but they are not going to like it -- sharply hike the gas tax. [snip] Gradually raising gas taxes to the point where fuel costs $4 to $5 at the pump will do more to stimulate demand in next-generation vehicles like General Motors Co's forthcoming Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid than any other policy initiatives...

Gizmag is always on the lookout for alternative means of powering vehicles and saving precious fossil fuels. But, in truth, the vast majority of us still drive exclusively petrol-powered cars. And the even sadder truth, outlined in a new research from the University of Michigan, is that the average fuel efficiency of a US vehicle has improved only three miles per gallon since the days of the Ford Model T.

OBAMA FAILS TO MEET 400 MPG AUTOMOBILE CLEAN AIR HOPES Jonathon Moseley The nation was greatly disappointed Tuesday when President Barack Obama announced his new plans for the automobile industry. Instead of setting fleet mileage standards at an average of 400 miles per gallon, as many had hoped and frankly expected, Obama set a goal of only a paltry 35.5 miles per gallon on average. Incredibly, Obama is apparently showing doubts about the power of the United States Government to unilaterally declare the miles per gallon that complex machinery like automobiles and trucks achieve in their technical operation. Such...

Obama unveils 'historic' car efficiency standards by Stephen Collinson Tue May 19, 5:06 pm ET WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama Tuesday unveiled "historic" efficiency and greenhouse gas standards for US cars, forging a rare moment of unity between auto firms and environmentalists on climate change. "For the first time in history, we have set in motion a national policy aimed at both increasing gas mileage and decreasing green house gas pollution for all new trucks and cars sold in the United States," Obama said. The president gathered 10 auto industry chiefs, from crippled US firms to foreign giants, plus...

Beats the hell out of "Bush lied, people died," if you ask me. Plus it has the added bonus of actually being accurate. The following idea is as sound as the glorified riding-lawnmowers to which we will be bound. President Barack Obama is proposing on Tuesday the highest auto fuel efficiency standards ever attempted in the United States... If the proposal is enacted, by 2016 the fleet average requirement would be 35.5 miles per gallon, said the official, who declined to be named. Currently the CAFE standard is 27.5 mpg for cars and 24 mpg for light trucks. We've already...

Next Bailout May Be for Automakers McCain, Obama Back Loan Guaranties By RUSSELL BERMAN, Staff Reporter of the Sun | September 16, 2008 http://www.nysun.com/national/next-bailout-may-be-for-automakers/85937/ WASHINGTON — The beneficiary of the next government bailout may not be Wall Street but Motor City. The nation's top car manufacturers are pushing Congress to act by the end of this month to guarantee $25 billion in loans to help them invest in the production of fuel-efficient vehicles. The idea is being greeted warmly by both the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates, who see it as a way to win votes in the swing state...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate late on Thursday approved a broad energy bill that would increase the fuel efficiency of U.S. cars and trucks for the first time since 1975 and significantly boost production of renewable motor fuels like ethanol.

WASHINGTON, June 19 — For a quarter-century, American automakers and their allies argued that any legislation to increase fuel economy standards would rob them of profits, force them to lay off workers and deprive consumers of the vehicles they wanted to buy. Even as recently as last weekend, a lobbying group financed by auto companies was still running radio ads in 11 states, raising the prospect that soccer moms might lose the opportunity to buy big sport utility vehicles if they did not urge Congress to reject legislation calling for higher mileage. “Why can’t they let me make the choice?”...

WASHINGTON - A plan to increase fuel efficiency standards to an average of 35 miles per gallon by 2020 won approval from a Senate panel Tuesday in a vote closely watched by automakers and environmental groups. The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee approved the measure, which would raise the nationwide fleet fuel economy average by about 40 percent from current levels of 25 mpg for cars and trucks. The bill, approved on a voice vote, would also increase standards by 4 percent a year from 2020 through 2030. "This is not a perfect bill, but I think we have...

DETROIT - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) on Monday faulted U.S. automakers for failing to do what foreign manufacturers have accomplished in producing fuel-efficient vehicles. Uttering words not often spoken in Detroit, Obama said U.S. energy policy must change in order to help domestic automakers answer the rising global demand for efficient autos. "For years, while foreign competitors were investing in more fuel-efficient technology for their vehicles, American automakers were spending their time investing in bigger, faster cars," the Illinois senator told business and political leaders. Obama said his plan encourages domestic automakers to make fuel-efficient...