BF2S Forums New Energy Laws and a new minimum of 35 mpg by 2020...

Your topic header is a bit misleading.  That 35 MPG rating is a fleet average, not an absolute minimum for all vehicles.

Spark wrote:

Doesn't this bring the US in line with everyone else? Or are my figures off?

We'll see.

Couldn't say, since each country has the ability to set their own standards.  However, given the average MPG of vehicles sold in the US, that is quite a large jump, especially for the American car makers who have relied heavily on full size trucks as the mainstay of their sales.

2020? So soon :sarcasm:?

Kmarion wrote:

The bigger picture to this law is that it requires the use of biofuels to reach 36 billion gallons two years after that. It will greatly increase our energy independence. Then maybe we can stop being at the mercy of a decayed civilization.

100% agreed.

35mpg is a rather low standard especially when they ave 13years to do so, but that is the US for you. By then japan/europe will have cars getting 80-200mpg average.

The#1Spot wrote:

35mpg is a rather low standard especially when they ave 13years to do so, but that is the US for you. By then japan/europe will have cars getting 80-200mpg average.

Depends, the car industry does a lot more than it has actually had to up untill now to try and improve on its energy consumption in its vehicles (broadly speaking).  Besides, its not simply enough to invent a car that can do x amount of MPG, it has to be able to push the dam thing, how you gonna feel in your nissan doing 100mpg and barely hitting 20mph on the highway!  Especially while being taken over by some guy in his petrol rover metro :\

People simply wont buy it, the only way to make them is to legislate and if they do that, we will all just stick to our current cars.  Even if they did legislate that wouldnt work either since thats pretty bad for the economy.

Look at that total abomination (sometimes known as toyota prius), half the claims are false, and, for it to become a really economical choice, you would need to do truck driver miles in the thing to make it economically sound (ish).  Even then, what isnt well publisied is how much more it takes to build one of those things compaired to a conventional model.

To make a point, a lot of these steps taken by governments and there committiees are quite narrow in there approach a lot of the time.

Martyn

Last edited by Bell (2007-12-20 15:21:30)

A lot of the problem has been the CAFE standards don't apply to trucks, only to cars.
Also the smog reduction technologies intented for California increase fuel consumption.
If CAFE applies to trucks you won't be seeing SUVs disappear, they'll get more expensive and the efficient small cars will get cheaper as the automakers rebalance their range.
It was no fun in the industry, trying to shave grams off small cars so we could sell more V8 Mustangs.

Toyota Prius - Even then, what isnt well publicisied is how much more it takes to build one of those things compaired to a conventional model.

Thats a red herring really, you can more or less equate monetary cost with energy cost.

A large part of the problem is just how far Americans drive, US cities have been built around cheap petrol.
There are big problems to come.