Articles

It was reported in the financial news on a NY radio station a few days ago that auto makers will not be required to actually sell low profit, high fuel mileage vehicles to achieve the new C.A.F.E. standards.

The much heralded C.A.F.E. standards required by H.R.6 and just signed into law by the President will be calculated differently. Previously, the Corporative Average Fuel Economy was based on all the vehicles actually sold by a manufacturer. The new method, as requested by auto manufactures is based on an average of the models for sale in a manufacturer’s line.

Simple example:
This change means that a 10 MPG vehicle could be offset by a 60 MPG “ringer”, thereby achieving the 35 MPG requirement of year 2020. The “ringer” could be a gussied up golf cart that nobody will buy or a very costly dream car that nobody will buy.

The net result of this overlooked change is that there are no longer any fuel economy requirements. It’s no wonder the administration did not oppose this bill!

It should be noted, had the EPA accepted the California CO2 restrictions, that would have negated the H.R.6 “requirements”.

Documentation:

(Old law) Full text of Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) 1975:
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/cafe/legistlation.htm#
(Old law) Simplified version:
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/cafe/overview.htm

§ 32904. Calculation of average fuel economy:

(a) Method of calculation.--(1) The Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency shall calculate the average fuel economy of a manufacturer subject to—
(A) section 32902(a) of this title in a way prescribed by the Administrator; and

(B) section 32902(b)-(d) of this title by dividing--
(i) the number of passenger automobiles manufactured by the manufacturer in a model year; by
(ii) the sum of the fractions obtained by dividing the number of passenger automobiles of each model manufactured by the manufacturer in that model year by the fuel economy measured for that model.

(New law) Full text of H.R.6:
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_cong_bills&docid=f:h6enr.txt.pdf

H.R.6 pg.8 Sec.102 reads in part:

‘‘(2) FUEL ECONOMY STANDARDS FOR AUTOMOBILES.—
‘‘(A) AUTOMOBILE FUEL ECONOMY AVERAGE FOR MODEL
YEARS 2011 THROUGH 2020.—The Secretary shall prescribe
a separate average fuel economy standard for passenger
automobiles and a separate average fuel economy standard
for non-passenger automobiles for each model year beginning
with model year 2011 to achieve a combined fuel
economy average for model year 2020 of at least 35 miles
per gallon for the total fleet of passenger and non-passenger
automobiles manufactured for sale in the United States
for that model year.

Bill Herbert