EPA to overhaul fuel economy ratings-reduce estimates for popular hybrids

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(HBO6 @ Nov 24 2006, 11:05 AM) [snapback]353689[/snapback]</div>

You have to admire smears of this type. The article goes on to point out that the ratings will drop for all vehicles but only lists changes for Hybrids. Of course what would you expect from an article written deep in the land of Big Oil? The Austin Statesman is not exactly interested in pushing anything that would save gas.....

 

It's a fundamentally flawed system. The most common of things, like winter fuel & driving, is missing entirely. Suburb values are absent as well.

There is no follow-up either. Where are the real-world results? Why must we settle for only estimates?

Then we have the plug-in hybrids on the way, which they have absolutely no clue how to deal with.

And how come emission ratings still aren't being added to the window stickers?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(wile-e @ Nov 24 2006, 04:40 PM) [snapback]353799[/snapback]</div>

1) Chicago is "deep in the land of Big Oil"?

2) You might want to familiarize yourself with Austin. It probably is more similar to San Francisco than Houston. They don't call it "The Peoples Republic of Austin" for nothing.

 

The really interesting thing about this, though, is that it could result in a de facto increase in the CAFE standards. If a gutless Congress doesn't roll back the standards, vehicle manufactuers no longer be in compliance and will have to increase fuel efficiency.

 

This news came out months ago. IIRC the worst part of this is that the EPA is actually fudging the results of a few cars, like the Prius, with some new invented "coefficient" which is supposed to adjust for the unfair advantage of the hybrid powertrain instead of changing the test for all cars. The intent of the change is to make the reported milage of the Prius go down relative to other cars. It's all done for supposedly good intentions -- but I smell a rat.

 

the rating for city on the Prius has always been high to me. i still get those figures and more, but only under better than average city driving conditons. the highway figures are a joke and can easily be obtained even under less than ideal situations and speeds so an adjustment should be made.

for one thing the stark difference in mileage bet summer and winter means there should be ratings for at the very least, two different temperature ranges with and without accessories like AC.

sounds complicated??? i think that the mere acceptance of the internet and the computer says that we expect, demand and need as much information as we can digest. some will ignore all but the overall weighted figure and others will want more than the detailed situations and scenarios.

i think we need the information available so we can make our own judgments.

 

I sure am glad I got my Prius before they lowered the EPA mileage estimates!

 

Woohoo, now I will always beat the EPA estimates! Sweet!


Really, the story should be the lowering of EPA estimates on almost all vehicles. Why it focuses almost solely on hybrids is interesting.

If all cars are treated equally, then the Prius and similar vehicles will continue to shine in their improved fuel economy. Yea, 45 doesn't sound as sexy as 55, but if you compare it to CR's Camry average of 24, that is nearly double the mileage.

It would be nice if this lower the CAFE and made automakers increase their mpg. Something tells me though that the automakers will find some loopholes that won't lead to reduce thier CAFE.

 

Well, if they are only lowering the estimates for the 'popular' hybrids, I suppose it's a kind of affirmative action for the 'unpopular' hybrids.

 

A great benefit to all of this..

Everyone driving a Prius ( well almost everyone ) will EXCEED the best EPA values, often on an average annual basis.

Nothing will be changed at all for the current vehicles we drive, they will not suddenly lose fuel efficiency by mandate. Nothing will be changed on the new vehicles delivered soon either. But when Gen3 comes out ... tested under the new guidelines ... then we're back to where we were. Except that the fuel economy ratings for the rest of the vehicles on the road will have been reduced in this 2008 MY mandate.

We all know what the reality is. This new mandate changes nothing and could be beneficial in the long run.

 

Gotta love this:
"The EPA city cycle is fairly gentle, much more gentle compared to how most people drive today," said David Champion, automotive testing director for Consumer Reports. "City driving today has more aggressive acceleration and more braking than the EPA test."

Maybe we should teach people how to be better drivers. Yeah, I like beating my head against the wall.

 

Considering the who's who of EPAs upper division are known big oil lobbyists or worked for firms who specialize in protecting gross polluters what else can you expect?

I agree that the EPA standards for testing MPG should be changed but at the same time it should be fair across the board and not focus on bashing this new technology and tweaking testing standards to produce favorable results for ICE only cars. No matter how you look at it the Prius ratings for MPG will go down. We all recognize that because the vast majority of drivers never attain the EPA ratings that came on their window sticker, yet I don't see that as something that needs to be blatantly advertised and what is percieved as a negative considering the Prius still has amazing gas milage and low emissions for such a large car.

Anyone else see the similarities in political shuffling between the Prius (and other new hybrids), happening now, and the crap that went on durring the time of the EV1?