[Leanan]

The Environmental Protection Agency is sitting on a report showing a decline in fuel economy for U.S. autos while Congress prepares to vote on energy legislation that does little to mandate automakers to improve fuel efficiency, according to a published report Thursday.

The New York Times said the report on fuel economy was supposed to be released Wednesday, but late Tuesday night the EPA decided to delay the release until next week. Congress could vote on the administration-backed energy bill this week.

The NYTimes got ahold of the report before it was withdrawn, and says it shows mileage has declined.

But the Times reports that it got an copy of the report late Tuesday just before the EPA changed its mind on the release date. It said that it shows the average 2004 model car or truck got 20.8 miles per gallon, about 6 percent less than the 22.1 mpg of the average new vehicle sold in the late 1980's.

And the paper said that major improvements in engine technology over the last couple of decades have been mostly used to make cars faster, not more fuel-efficient.

http://money.cnn.com/2005/07/28/news/ec ... /index.htm

[The_Toecutter]

Better aerodynamics will improve fuel efficiency more than any slight increase in internal combustion efficiency could ever hope to achieve. Cars can be made to be drastically more aerodynamic, perhaps increasing fuel economy by 50%, without even changing the engine whatsoever.

Or better yet, ban the ICE altogether and start using electric motors and batteries in all new cars sold.

[Sys1]

Better aerodynamics will improve fuel efficiency more than any slight increase in internal combustion efficiency could ever hope to achieve.

We should all drive electric Ferraris then

[Ludi]

We should all drive electric Ferraris then

The Venturi Fetish electric sports car, 245 horsepower

$500,000.00 USD approx.

[BabyPeanut]

We should all drive electric Ferraris then

Electric grids are overloaded and rolling blackouts are happening and most electricity comes from coal and transmission line loss is wasteful.

[turmoil]

how do they cram 245 HP worth of batteries in there???

[MagnoliaFan]

Another thing that is decreasing the fuel efficiency is the increased emissions standards. A trucker was talking on a call-in radio show and he complained that his newer more environmentally-friendly truck only got 5.7 MPG whereas he used to get 7 MPG in his older one which had less stringent emissions standards. The reason he gets less MPG is because the newer truck burns the fuel at a lower temperature thus emitting less soot into the air.

If you want to improve environmental emissions standards of the ICE, you have to sacrifice fuel efficiency. So you're basically robbing Peter in order to pay Paul.

And the point about electric cars not necessarily being more environmentally friendly than gasoline engines is an excellent one.