Refer to the "Embargoed EPA Report" -
Between 1980 and 2005, automotive technology (including injectos, combustion, microprocessors/automotive data bus, and continuously variable transmissions) have advanced to the point where we could have 35 plus miles per gallon in a 1980's car, or 22 miles per gallon in a 2005 weight car. The "industry" has not applied these improvements to increasing CAFE -- but to materially increasing weight without a concomitant decrease in fuel economy (SUVs and light pickup trucks are a different matter and regulatory regime).
Let's get even more poessimistic and conspiratorial. If you work the ton miles/gallon numbers in the EPA discussion (non linear, but assuming linearity makes the pencil and paper, back of the envelope calculations quicker and easier) - we could get a CAFE of 35+ miles per gallon - with a 1980's vehicle weight population, and 1980 acceleration. That's without hybrids.
If you assume hybrids ....
This is all doable. Honda is only one demoing it and publicly prototyping it.
Do you ever wonder why GM and Ford are "junk bond rated"?
Go to the PDF's of the embargoed report -- http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/28/business/28TEXT-EPA.html
BTW - I do not believe it is all the fault of the American Petroleum Institute or the North American Automobile Manufacturers Association or the United Autoworkers -- I do see the Saudi hand in the back room with Bush and Cheney.
Now, let's look at hybrid cars and tax credits, and hig occupancy vehicle lanes.
Limits loom on benefits of hybrid cars
DIAMOND LANE USE, TAX BREAKS ARE EXPECTED TO BE RESTRICTED
By Paul Rogers
Mercury News, Friday, August 5, 2005
Sure, they provide great gas mileage and environmental bragging rights.
But if you were thinking about buying a hybrid car because of the sizable new tax break and a free pass to the carpool lane, Congress has put up a detour.
The massive highway bill passed last week in Washington, D.C., includes complicated rules that could delay by six months the day when California hybrid drivers are allowed to drive solo in the state's coveted diamond lanes.
Similarly, the huge energy bill that Congress sent to the president last week included tax credits of up to $3,400 for people who buy new hybrid vehicles starting Jan. 1. But the fine print of the bill limits those credits to 60,000 vehicles per manufacturer from 2006 through 2010.
That means buyers who choose cars made by early innovators Toyota and Honda, which are selling thousands of hybrids a month, will almost certainly find that their tax credits run out fairly quickly, probably by 2007. It could help American carmakers like Ford or General Motors, whose hybrid programs lag Japanese makers', because the credits will last longer.
I do not believe that these limits on hybrids are solely the work of the American Petroleum Institute or the North American Automobile Manufacturers Association or the United Autoworkers (even though they certainly benefit) -- I do see the Saudi hand in Congressman Dave Camp's back room with Bush and Cheney
We are selling out the American people and the American economy for the shortest short term gains of the auto industry (the junk bond rated auto industry) -- and the the benefit of the autocratic Arabian oligarchs. And what do the Saudi Princelings do with the "monopoly rents" on oil? Hint - it doesn't trickle down to the "people" - it trickles down to the Wahabi madrassahs and the terrorists and the Taliban and Al Qaida.