Is the 55mpg standard something new? Yes, it is a huge development in auto efficiency.

[kristopher]

Every time the new standards by Obama are discussed someone invariably chimes in with the thought that this isn't anything new; and they justify the belief with a personal story of having owned a high mileage car decades ago. While the frugal and prudent nature that led to the previous purchase is to be highly commended in my mind, the experience is sometimes leading to a false conclusion about both the significance of the new regulatory standard and the degree of difficulty in the task of meeting that standard.

What Obma raised is a standard required by Corporate Average Fuel Economy regulations.

From wiki:
The Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) ... is the sales-weighted harmonic mean fuel economy, expressed in miles per US gallon (mpg), of a manufacturer's fleet of current model year passenger cars or light trucks with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of 8,500 pounds (3,856 kg) or less, manufactured for sale in the US.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_Average_Fuel_Economy

Simplifying that policy speak we can describe it as the mile per gallon rating achieved when we average nearly all the cars and trucks sold by a vehicle manufacturer. Lots of vehicles get higher mileage, and lots of vehicles get lower mileage but getting to an average of 55 mpg is going to require a lot of the upper end vehicles to hit the range of 100 mgp equivalent.
That is a BIG DEAL.



White House report for the public on new standards:

Driving Efficiency: Cutting Costs for Families at the Pump and
Slashing Dependence on Oil
Introduction
For decades, politicians of every stripe have been talking about the threats posed by our dependence on oil – to consumers, our security, and our environment. One of the most powerful tools we have to reduce our oil dependence is to increase the efficiency of our cars and light trucks, which account for nearly half of U.S. oil consumption. And transportation is the second-highest expense for most American households – right after housing. But when President Obama took office, the fuel economy standard for passenger cars was the same as it had been in 1985.

After decades of inaction in this critical area, President Obama has taken unprecedented steps to increase our vehicle efficiency, announcing fuel economy standards that will nearly double the efficiency of our fleet. In 2009 the President established aggressive fuel economy standards for cars and trucks built in 2011 and announced groundbreaking national fuel efficiency standards and greenhouse gas standards for cars and light-duty trucks built in 2012-2016. By Model Year 2016, those national standards will raise the average fuel economy of new cars and trucks to 35.5 miles per gallon (incorporating efficient gains from air conditioning improvements) and lower greenhouse gases emissions to 250 grams per mile (g/mi), while maintaining consumer choice. At the same time, the Administration established a harmonized program that allows manufacturers to build a single, light-duty national fleet that satisfies all federal requirements as well as those of California and other states.

On July 29, 2011, the President announced the next phase in the Administration's program to increase fuel economy and reduce greenhouse gas pollution for all new cars and trucks sold in the United States. These new standards will cover cars and light trucks for Model Years 2017- 2025, requiring performance equivalent to 54.5 mpg in 2025 while reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 163 grams per mile.

Taken together, the standards established under this Administration span Model Years 2011 to 2025. They will save American families money at the pump, for a total of $1.7 trillion in fuel savings over the life of the program. The standards will cut our oil dependence, reducing oil consumption by an estimated 2.2 million barrels a day in 2025 (eventually reaching more than 4 million barrels a day as the fleet turns over), and saving 12 billion barrels in total over the lifetime of the program. And they will clean up our environment, cutting greenhouse gas emissions by more than 6 billion metric tons over the life of the program, while reducing pollutants like air toxics, cause soot, and smog.

Developed in partnership with auto manufacturers, the State of California, the United Auto Workers (UAW), national environmental organizations, and other stakeholders, these achievable and cost effective standards will bring the nation over halfway to the President’s goal of reducing oil imports by a third by 2025. These standards thus represent a key component of the comprehensive energy policy that this Administration has pursued since day one, which aims to increase safe and responsible energy production at home while reducing our overall dependence on oil with cleaner alternative fuels and greater efficiency. ...

The full 10 page report can be downloaded with this link:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/fuel_economy_report.pdf

You can download the charts from the report with links at the end of this press release.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/07/29/president-obama-announces-new-fuel-economy-standards

[Philosopher King]

1. The only way they will get there in a decent size vehicle is with diesel.

Ford has been selling a 65 MPG Fiesta in Europe since 2009.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_37/b4099060491065.htm

[kristopher]

2. It doesn't appear that way...

The "series hybrid" and the "all electric" vehicles are the path that manufacturers are going down.

[OKIsItJustMe]

13. Will their customers join them?

http://www.gallup.com/poll/147746/High-Gas-Prices-May-Fuel-Efficient-Cars.aspx

May 23, 2011

In U.S., High Gas Prices May Make Many Get Fuel-Efficient Cars

Roughly 7 in 10 Americans would not move or change jobs, no matter how high prices go

by Dennis Jacobe, Chief Economist

PRINCETON, NJ -- Americans are most likely to say they would seek vehicles that get better gas mileage if gas prices keep rising but don't go above the $5-per-gallon range. Americans are second most likely to say they would use mass transit. Seven in 10 Americans would not move and about the same number of workers would not change jobs or quit working, no matter how high prices rise.



…

High-income Americans are about twice as likely as those with low incomes to say they would purchase an electric car if gas prices rose to the $5 range. Otherwise, no matter whether respondents view higher prices as temporary or permanent, or the degree of financial hardship high gas prices are causing them, electric cars are equally unpopular as a response to high gas prices.

…

[Old and In the Way]

16. Fascinating polling.

I hope we don't see it anytime soon, but I suspect the polling will look a lot different should gas actually get to the $6 and up range. It's easy to support your preference when the question is a hypothetical.

[kristopher]

17. Polling predicting economic behavior is notoriously inaccurate.

it is as you say, when faced with actual economic choices, there is a vast chasm between what people say they will do and what they actually do.

[Name removed]

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[TheWraith]

18. Speak for yourself. I live in the country and would love an EV.

The assumption that an EV can only be used for urban driving, or that new batteries aren't up to long ranges, is simply not true.

[Name removed]

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[Tesha]

20. Maybe you shouldn't be towing your horse trailer with your "everyday" car.

Maybe you shouldn't be towing a horse trailer at all?

Tesha

[bananas]

21. The 1% love to race their horses.

They have a large ranch to raise their horses on,
they hire stable boys and veterinarians to care for their horses,
they hire jockeys to train and race their horses,
gas prices are of no concern to them when they drive their monster SUV with a horse trailer behind it,
taking their horses to the racetrack where they will bet loose change to them but megabucks to the rest of us.

[bananas]

22. The 1% need monster SUV's to drive their horse to the race track

they don't care about global warming or the 99%.

[TheWraith]

5. One "gallon" in Europe is 1.2 US gallons.

So you're really looking at a car getting a maximum of 52 miles per US gallon, on fuel which costs one third more than gas. So you're looking at economy equivalent to a car which gets 39 miles to the gallon highway. Good, but not exactly revolutionary. Hell, my 1997 Saturn is rated at 36 on the highway.

[Tesha]

7. Actually, that's an Imperial Gallon in the UK. The rest of Europe, like the rest of the civilized...

...world, has gone Metric so it's litres per 100 kM.

Tesha

[TheWraith]

9. Yes, you're right. But it's shorthand.

Usually when those tiny European economy models are talked about, they're talked about in Imperial gallons.

[Name removed]

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[TheWraith]

3. YES! I'm glad someone gets it.

Put more simply, a 55 MPG CAFE standard means you're probably looking at light trucks and SUVs getting 45 miles to the gallon, and cars getting 65.

[Rambis]

4. All the major car dealers have a fuel sipper in Europe

But we are not entitled to them

[OKIsItJustMe]

6. It’s not that we’re not entitled to them

It’s that our consumers don’t want to buy them. Seriously, in what other countries were families looking to buy “urban assault vehicles” like “http://www.gmhummer.com/">Hummers?”


In Europe and Japan, consumers have paid more for gasoline than “Americans” do, and, so there has been more motivation to purchase, and therefore to produce more efficient vehicles.
http://www.marketingcharts.com/topics/asia-pacific/us-last-among-major-countries-in-car-fuel-economy-standards-1141/

An Englishman told me a story of his first trip to the US. He and his family were picked up at the airport by a future co-worker. My friend thought he must be rich, because he owned such a large car. (It was a Dodge Dart.)

[TheWraith]

8. It's not just some uniquely American taste for huge cars.

The problem is that most of those "sippers" are diesel-fueled, and diesel still has a horrible reputation in the US as producing a worse smelling exhaust than gas. Nobody wants a car which they're worried is going to smell like a tractor trailer.

[Rambis]

10. Friend's father had a natural gas Opal 1980's Ireland

didn't catch on- When I was there I talked to s girl who drove the Ford Focus Diesel it got 67 MPG.

[caraher]

11. But our cars are in fact much bigger

This summer I was driving a VW Passat around France and it was pretty much a behmoth compared to most cars - and a pain to park (even with all the electronic aids it had). So many roads are narrower... it's just more practical in most circumstances to drive vehicles that are no bigger than absolutely necessary.

And yes, it was a diesel... over there, diesel was (and probably still is) much cheaper than gasoline.

[OKIsItJustMe]

12. Bah!

Americans aren’t chased away from a Honda CR-Z or a Scion iQ (for example) by a “diesel smell.”

They just don’t want a small car.