New rules will demand far better fuel economy

By Jesse Gillman

Obama announces plan for doubling of fleet standard to 54.5 mpg

Source MSNBC.com President Barack Obama, with the backing of major carmakers, announced a plan Friday to boost average fuel economy of new cars and trucks to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025, double current levels.

"This agreement on fuel standards represents the single most important step we’ve ever taken as a nation to reduce our dependence on foreign oil," Obama said at a Washington event with top automaker executives and union leaders.

The new standards are the result of a compromise with the industry after the White House initially proposed even tougher requirements that would have raised the Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, standard to 62 mpg.

The plan announced Friday calls for a fleet wide average of 54.5 mpg -- higher for cars and lower for "light trucks," a category that includes pickups and sport utility vehicles.

The current fleet standard of 27.3 for 2011 models is already scheduled to rise to 35.5 mpg in 2016. The new rules would require an additional 5 percent annual improvement in car fuel economy from 2017 to 2025. For light trucks the standard would rise 3.5 percent a year from 2017 to 2021 and 5 percent annually from 2021 to 2025.

The White House said the new rules have won the backing of automakers representing 90 percent of vehicles sold in the United States.

Some automakers and analysts have warned that technology required by the new standards will add thousands of dollars to the cost of a typical new car. But the White House says that will be offset by savings at the pump, which it said would average $8,000 over the life of a  vehicle by 2025.

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One environmental group welcomed the new standards but said they could have been even better.

The group, The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, also pointed out that actual mileage achieved by cars and light trucks in the 2020s will be much lower than the published CAFE standards, which are based on laboratory tests rather than real road performance.

"This is a major step in reducing our oil dependence and consumers' vulnerability to high gasoline costs," said Therese Langer, transportation program director for the ACEEE. "By 2030, this round of standards could save more oil than we currently import from Saudi Arabia and Iraq, combined."

But she added that the announced standards "could be eroded" in the rule-making process before they are finalized.

"The next several months will be crucial to ensuring that the benefits this program promises are realized," she said.

I think this is good for our environment because if this plan goes into effect then it makes our driving ways safer for American drivers all across the county.