This is good. In the face of legislation proposing drastically increased fuel economy standards American automakers are freaking out. Their staunch support of SUVs is withering away as consumers grow sick of expensive gas, forcing the companies to focus their lobbying efforts on taming the energy legislation instead.

I didn't realize this, but the current fuel economy standard for cars, unchanged since 1983, is 27.5 miles a gallon. Light trucks, including S.U.V.’s, pickups and minivans, must achieve a minimum average of 21.3 miles a gallon over each carmaker’s entire fleet. I guess that explains how they can get away with making Hummers that get 10-12 miles per gallon. Under the proposed legislation, cars would have to achieve an average fuel economy of 36 miles a gallon by 2022, while trucks would have to reach 30 miles a gallon by 2025. It's a start.

Labels: energy