The CAFE Era May be Over Soon

Automotive News Reports: The CAFE Era May be Over Soon.

The report says that the long stalemate over motor vehicle fuel economy is nearing an end. Change is coming nearly 25 years after federal fuel rules first were adopted and almost 15 years after U.S. car and truck efficiency peaked.

The article continues, for six years, Congress has frozen the federal fuel-economy standards, a practice that frustrated environmentalists and even wore thin with some automakers. But in that time, a consensus has emerged that probably will break the deadlock.

AN says that there is unspoken agreement among all sides that cars and trucks with greater fuel efficiency are inevitable. The timing and means for getting them on the roads are still in dispute. And those issues are reaching critical mass this year in Washington. This much appears clear: The end is near for the annual laws that have kept corporate average fuel economy, or CAFE, standards frozen at 27.5 mpg for cars and 20.7 for trucks for the past six years. What's not clear is how the industry and lawmakers might replace CAFE.

Regardless of what follows the story states that, automakers are better prepared than they were a generation ago to put more efficient vehicles on the roads. That's because they have made tremendous strides in technology, especially in gasoline-electric hybrid power-trains. But they say they need help getting enough customers to try them. That's why they want tax credits, not the tougher standards still favored by environmental groups. For the complete article go to www.automotivenews.com