The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced a miniscule change in fuel economy standards for light trucks. According to a Union of Concerned Scientists analysis of the plan, the new standards will save less than two weeks of gasoline each year over the next two decades.
The standards require SUVs, pickups and minivans (so-called light trucks) to increase fuel economy by 1.8 mpg by 2011 (i.e. to 24.0 mpg in 2011), beginning with model year 2008, essentially a repackaged version of the August fuel economy proposal.
The rule includes heavier SUVs and vans (medium duty passenger vehicles?MDPV) for the first time but ignores heavier pickups. Including heavier pickups like the Ford F-350 and Chevrolet Silverado 3500, would have saved four times as much.
The Union of Concerned Scientists analysis shows the administration could have saved one million barrels of oil per day in 2025 if it had simply raised the new standards to 26 mpg by 2011 and applied the standards to all light trucks. This would have met 20 percent of the president’s target of cutting oil imports from the Middle East by 75 percent by 2025.
“After the Bush administration acknowledged our oil addiction, one might have expected a slam dunk, but this is an air ball,” said David Friedman, research director for the Clean Vehicles Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists.
“Fighting America’s oil addiction with these standards is like fighting lung cancer by smoking 49 cigarettes a day instead of 50,” said Don MacKenzie, vehicles engineer with the Union of Concerned Scientists. “Automakers have technology on their shelves right now that could cost-effectively improve the efficiency of light trucks to 26 or 27 mpg, at least double the increase that NHTSA announced today.”
The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) said the President’s goal amounts to a reduction of approximately 5 million barrels per day by 2025. The new light truck fuel economy requirements, which call for a projected 1.8 MPG increase between 2007 and 2011, yields roughly one-seventh of that amount.
The organization recommends an increase at least double the levels set today over the 2007-2011 period, with further improvements in subsequent years. “Modest short-term increases can be made to look good on paper, but long-term improvements are where you’ll truly see the oil savings,” noted Jim Kliesch, Research Associate with ACEEE’s Transportation program.
Light truck CAFE changes were initially proposed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in August 2005, and at the time received widespread criticism for being based upon unrealistic government gasoline price projections of approximately $1.50 per gallon. Despite the fact that fuel price projections have increased to more than $2.00 per gallon since the proposed rule was issued, NHTSA raised its original proposal by a mere 0.1 MPG. The change, commented Nadel, is “laughable.”
The final rule could also cause the nominal overall light truck fuel economy to be eroded by allowing unlimited sales of lower mileage, larger trucks. Today’s final rule radically restructures the fuel economy rules to base light truck MPG requirements on vehicle size. This change allows automakers to sell large numbers of full-size pickups and SUVs without offsetting them with sales of more fuel-efficient trucks, as had been required under the previous CAFE system. Now, depending on a manufacturer’s model offerings, the new regulations could yield a lower average fuel economy for trucks than was required under the previous system. “This is deck chair rearranging, only worse,” noted Nadel. “Under this new system, the MPG gains are not assured for a manufacturer’s truck fleet. A shift in the vehicle mix can cause oil savings to evaporate.”
One positive element of today’s announcement is the new requirement that the largest SUVs on the market be brought under the CAFE umbrella. To date, pickups and SUVs with gross vehicle weights between 8,500 and 10,000 lbs., known as “Class 2B trucks,” have been exempt from all fuel economy regulations-despite the category containing many popular models. Today’s announcement requires SUVs to meet fuel economy requirements, though large pickups, which account for roughly 80 percent of all Class 2B trucks, remain exempt. “Bringing in the SUVs is a small step in the right direction,” stated Kliesch. “But it’s difficult to praise NHTSA when four out of five of these vehicles are still exempt from any fuel economy requirement.”
Summarizing the package as a whole, Nadel commented, “The Administration has clearly dropped the ball. It’s time for Congress to pick it up and run with it.”
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