President at the Pump
Imagine. In just seven years all new cars sold in America will be required to average 35 mpg. The auto industry (or what's left of it) will not go down without a lot of screaming and hair-tearing, for it hates being forced by politicians to do things it doesn't like or pretends to be technically impossible. Note: After years of fighting fuel economy and emissions rules at both the federal and state levels, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers is finally coming out in favor of the new regulatory framework.
Personally I'm grinning from ear-to-ear, for I've been driving cars that got similar mileage since, well… decades ago. And you know what? It didn't hurt a bit. Of course, I don't live on a farm, never pulled a heavy trailer, never hauled a bus load of people in a Texas Cadillac (GM Suburban), so I can afford to be smug.
Seriously, folks, if this happens it will, according to the White House, reduce greenhouse gases produced by automobiles by 30-percent. That's a figure well worth achieving, assuming we care as much about the planet as we do which car we drive. The goal will stimulate research, lead to more hybrids and more diesel-powered cars, encourage the development and production of electrics, bring us closer to a fuel cell economy. We can either be reactionary and bemoan the loss of traditional automobiles or we can get excited about the future.
As an automobile journalist who's been writing about cars longer than 99% of my contemporaries and as an ex-racer who likes to go fast, I should be allied with the reactionary group but I'm not. Nothing stays the same in this world and that includes the automobile. To me, the future is exciting. 35 mpg is not only possible, it can be exceeded. Electric cars can be as quick as an Audi Le Mans racer. I can hardly wait to test an Aptera electric three-wheeler, the urban car of the immediate future.
Seeking an authoritative source, I looked to Kenneth Medlock, a fellow in energy and resources economics with Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy and an adjunct professor of economics. His view? "Energy efficiency acts broadly as a virtual source of supply – one that we have not appropriately utilized. Our work has shown that increases in automotive fuel efficiency could save America up to 7 million barrels a day of oil consumption relative to a business-as-usual scenario by 2030. This is a positive step."
Professor Medlock, have you ever driven a Morris Minor?
[Thanks to Autoblog for the photo image]
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