Obama call for more Ms per G

[mpt]

Ahead of an official announcement expected next Tuesday and under condition of anonymity, administration officials spoke of a 30% improvement mandate starting in 2011 and reaching a deadline in 2016.

Full story at MSNBC : U.S. to require new cars get 42 mpg - Climate Change - MSNBC.com

Top news; it's 2000 again but this time the auto companies are on their knees and can litigate out of it

MPT

 

[TEG]

Will they "rise to the challenge" or "throw in the towel"?

It seems like everyone will have to start making PHEVs to meet those MPG numbers. With PHEV pricing high, wiill a $7500 government incentive be enough to get people to buy enough of them to get the established auto industry back to profitability?

Sounds like sink or swim time.

 

[Kevin Harney]

They can't even raise to the towel ..... LOL who are you kidding :smile:

 

[vfx]

The stated requirement difference between “cars” and “light trucks” is waaaay too big. Manufacturers will jump through a thousand hoops to make every family car into a Crossover making things even worse.

Fix the loophole in car/truck definition.

 

[bobw]

Joy.

CAFE created the SUV. Then the Bush administration raised the standard, under pressure. Now this administration is re-compounding the mistake.

If you want people to use less gasoline, tax it. Raise it gradually over a period of years, so people can adjust.

Only, that would be unpopular! Can't have that. Might lose a congressional majority in 2010!

The effective IQ in D.C. is the average IQ divided by the number of days since the last election.

 

[TEG]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/19/business/19emissions.html

 

[mpt]

I think that the big difference this time is that the car industry is on its knees asking for help and Obama knows that; there'll be provisions in the bill to ensure no worm-out escape, plus, I think that there has been much published on the previous debacle; the public is more wary this time around, or so I’d like to think anyway.

bobw: totally agreed, tax, phase it in; I think that (would like to think that) Americans are ready to take more responsibility for the environment and would be less resistant to a tax if they understood how it was going to impact the environment.

 

[bobw]

MPT:

I'm afraid I don't share your confidence.

I think that CAFE ruined the big three.

 

[vfx]

bobw: totally agreed, tax, phase it in; I think that (would like to think that) Americans are ready to take more responsibility for the environment and would be less resistant to a tax if they understood how it was going to impact the environment.

Make sure the gas tax goes overtly and obviously to BEV causes.

Have a sticker required on the gasoline pump that says where the tax per gallon goes.

Have the gasoline receipt read it out. "60 cents of this purchase went to further the electrification of automobiles for a cleaner, safer USA"

 

[doug]

Make sure the gas tax goes overtly and obviously to BEV causes.

Have a sticker required on the gasoline pump that says where the tax per gallon goes.

Have the gasoline receipt read it out. "60 cents of this purchase went to further the electrification of automobiles for a cleaner, safer USA"

Somehow I think that might have a more negative effect than good, and would cause a backlash. People already get pissed off about prime parking spots that are marked EVs only.

The tax idea is fine, but rubbing people's faces in it probably isn't.

 

[TEG]

Obama to unveil most aggressive auto fuel standards | Green Business | Reuters

 

[vfx]

Somehow I think that might have a more negative effect than good, and would cause a backlash.

In Germany where Feed In Tariff laws benefit home owners but cost extra for apartment dwellers, they also braced for a similar backlash. Turns out that by-enlarge renters support paying more for power since the country has been conditioned to realize the good that is coming from elimination pollution.
Getting everyone on board is key.

 

[Kevin Harney]

Does that make Michelle a "Obahama Mama" LOL :biggrin:

 

[dpeilow]

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Obama moves to curb car emissions

 

[Brent]

In Germany where Feed In Tariff laws benefit home owners but cost extra for apartment dwellers, they also braced for a similar backlash. Turns out that by-enlarge renters support paying more for power since the country has been conditioned to realize the good that is coming from elimination pollution.
Getting everyone on board is key.

I was astounded at how quickly we changed habits during last summer's gasoline price swings. People sold their SUVs (gasp!) and bought bicycles. Metro ridership soared. Maybe the most certain and quickest way to force a change in car use is to make it more expensive. It's like the bit of advice I heard from a ski lift operator: if you want people to do the right thing, you gotta make it easier than the wrong thing.

To be workable, a gas tax would probably have to be a phased in, like ten percent per year for each of ten years. Business and consumers alike want predictability, they want to know how to allocate resources. If you know for sure that in ten years your gasoline is going to be double the price, you're going to make different decisions than if you're relying on uncertain forecasts and predictions.

I think the tax receipts ought largely to go to public transport projects. As much as I love my car, perhaps car use (even electric car use) should become the exception and not the norm, especially for commuting and small trips. The electric car will solve problems with emissions and global warming, but the issue of urban livability looms large long-term. In Los Angeles, we have engineered humans out of the landscape. I don't see that as a sustainable model.

 

[AnOutsider]

Obama's Fuel Fantasy - Forbes.com

Not a HORRIBLE article, but he does go on tangents at times. He also mentions EVs:

That leaves electric cars to deliver the miracle. Auto companies around the world are experimenting. But no major auto company is in production of any yet, so it's still an untested technology for a mass production industry. There will be many problems. And the price of the batteries is likely to be high, say $10,000 for a car with 100+ mile range. It's difficult to see a mass conversion to such untested technology in just seven years.

 

[TEG]

Is Obama Out of Bounds on Climate Change? | BNET Auto Blog | BNET

 

[Brent]

Bob Lutz's quip to David Letterman about CAFE standards was pretty funny (here in paraphrase):

Trying to reduce fuel demand by raising MPG standards is like trying reduce obesity by mandating smaller dress sizes.

 

[johnr]

Bob Lutz's quip to David Letterman about CAFE standards was pretty funny (here in paraphrase):

Trying to reduce fuel demand by raising MPG standards is like trying reduce obesity by mandating smaller dress sizes.

And Letterman responded, "That would probably work!" LOL So, let's get some max-clothing-size laws on the books already and get rid of those fatsos :tongue:

 

[Arnold Panz]

Bob Lutz's quip to David Letterman about CAFE standards was pretty funny (here in paraphrase):

Trying to reduce fuel demand by raising MPG standards is like trying reduce obesity by mandating smaller dress sizes.

As much as I dislike Lutz, he has a point. Until/unless we make high mpg cars desireable (as they were when gas was over $4/gal last summer), simply moving the CAFE numbers isn't going to cut it. In fact, if I understand Econ 101, as fuel efficiency improves and demand for oil decreases, theoretically gas will become even cheaper, making gas guzzlers even more tempting for the average car buyer. A gas tax that creates a floor (say, $3.50/gallon or something like that) would give certainty to the marketplace and carmakers that they would know that their highly efficient cars of the future will be coveted and not ignored.