[Graeme]

Fuel Economy Continues Upward Climb to New Record

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has crunched the numbers and the fleet of cars and light trucks sold with model year 2013 hit a new record of 24.1 miles per gallon (mpg). The latest Fuel Economy Trends report finds that automakers are producing more fuel-saving vehicles to keep up with clean car and fuel economy standards.

This is good news for the environment. By burning less fuel, the more efficient new car fleet also avoids emissions of millions of tons of carbon pollution each year.

Consumers benefit too. Just five years earlier, in 2008, passenger cars averaged 21 mpg. Assuming gas prices of $3.50 per gallon, a 3-mpg jump to 24 mpg will save a typical driver over $300 in the first year of driving.

It’s no surprise that consumers want better fuel economy. According to a recent survey by the National Automobile Dealers Association, fuel economy is the number 1 factor considered by shoppers during a new car and light truck purchase. The Consumer Federation of America expects this to be an on-going trend where car buyers seek higher fuel efficiency with each new purchase.

theenergycollective

[dolanbaker]

Those figures are still appalling when compared to other countries!

[ROCKMAN]

And let's not forget this is just the average of new vehicles...not the current fleet on the road. Given the roughly 10 year cycle of vehicle replacement. The typical change in total fleet mpg over the last 10 years has been about 0.1 to 0.2 mpg/year. Going the right direction but very slowly. It has always been more affordable to keep the old vehicle and pay more for fuel then buying a new one. Thus only upgraded when the old one wore out.

[marmico]

Has motorization in the U.S. peaked? Yep, in about 2004.

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream ... sequence=1

[yellowcanoe]

And let's not forget this is just the average of new vehicles...not the current fleet on the road. Given the roughly 10 year cycle of vehicle replacement. The typical change in total fleet mpg over the last 10 years has been about 0.1 to 0.2 mpg/year. Going the right direction but very slowly. It has always been more affordable to keep the old vehicle and pay more for fuel then buying a new one. Thus only upgraded when the old one wore out.

Well it doesn't help that people are still fixated on buying SUV, minivan and pickup truck type vehicles. While manufacturers are making progress in improving the fuel efficiency of these heavy vehicles, there is no way around the fact that it takes a lot of energy to move a big, heavy vehicle. Improving the fuel efficiency of larger vehicles comes at a high cost -- for example the extensive use of aluminum in the new Ford F-150 truck would require a lot more energy than what would have been required to produce the steel for the previous version of the truck.

[Henriksson]

It should be mentioned that ~20% of energy spent on a car goes towards the building phase. Older cars have the eminent advantage that they already exist, and don't need that energy investment.

[ROCKMAN]

Yellow - I'm sure you know with fuel under $3/gallon in Texas p/u truck sales (which weren't doing too bad before) will jump. And I'm one of those butt holes buying a new minivan. LOL. But at least I have a decent excuse: it's a handicap conversion I can roll my new power chair into. But the good news is that the power chair is electric and I can brag that I recharge it with some of our big RENEWABLE energy supply from wind turbines. LOL.

And to be honest I saw a four door crew cab p/u handicap conversion I salivated over. LOL. And it was 4wd too. I don't need a p/u but so what: many Texans with p/u's don't really need them. LOL. But in addition to doing my part to limit GHG emissions I'm cheap and didn't want to go an extra $20k. But has it been the same price as the minivan... hmm? I can handle higher fuel prices. And the handicap conversion was very cool. LOL.

But that's really the point: many folks that can buy a larger (and more expensive) vehicle can afford to pay higher fuel prices. And folks with old less fuel efficient vehicles can afford higher fuel prices better then buying even a relatively small and cheap car with much better mpg. Which leads to the inevitable fact that no matter how quickly they improve mpg on new vehicles the rolling fleet average changes very slowly. Last time I saw the stat it took several years to improve the fleet average by just 1 mpg.

And with cheaper fuel those less affluent folks with old poor mpg vehicles can afford to drive more and the affluent can afford larger vehicles. I really liked that p/u. LOL