EPA issues new fuel-efficiency standard; Autos must average 54.5 mpg by 2025. Sounds like the Obama administration is trying to jump-start those dismal Chevy Volt sales to us.The way this is going, by 2025 a Smart Car will be considered to be a luxury vehicle.
This post was last modified on January 26, 2021


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Ford has come the closest of anyone to meeting the ridiculously high CAFE standards, by performing some amazing engineering. The Eco-Boost engine wrings every last possible MPG out of the Internal Combustion Engine, but it comes at a price. These engines are now incredibly complex, and require so much expertise to work on, that you are hard pressed to do anything more than an oil change. Anyone who has taken Thermodynamics knows that there is a limit to the efficiency you can get out of any process. We are now down to eking out the last few percent before we reach the theoretical limit.
I think they might be able to get a few more percent, but then the materials and equipment required would add tens of thousands of dollars to each unit, and make them completely un-sellable.
Electric cars are clearly not the answer. There is not enough Lead, Cadmium and other materials to replace the 200 Million cars in the U.S.
Natural Gas is a possibility, but it is not nearly as efficient as a motor vehicle fuel, and there's no infrastructure.
I hate the EPA.
Wow, those Unicorn Farts must be some really powerful shit.
Algore just wet his pants. He is probably making plans to sell "gas mileage offsets". If your car doesn't get the required mileage you can buy gas mileage credits from him to offset the difference. Ah.....can't you just smell the clean air?
By 2025 your 54.5 MPG car will probably cost $200,000 so you can save $2,000 a year on gas.
If I can get a $198,000 rebate, that might be a good deal.
Of Obama has held onto his throne, that might be an option.
Never will happen unless we get real serious about coal mining.
If Republican ticket would pledge to invest half trillion in sustainable Fusion research, i'd canvas for them, despite their unsettling coalition
Till then, i am leery of allegiance to either party
Hell, I just want the following fast tracked...
More oil drilling wherever we have it
Get the XL pipeline done
Increase refining capacity by building new ones, & expanding existing ones
Permit more coal mining
Build nuke plants
Get rid moronic cafe standards
Quit propping up fake "green energy" operations
& An executive order to abolish the EPA & the Dept. of Energy
...& you wanna guess at what that would do to our economy?
Not wild about Nuclear and I understand that coal burns dirtier, etc, but the only reason I dislike coal is bacause of the damage they are doing to gorgeous areas of the country with strip mining. There are a lot of things we could do if people were actually allowed to do them. Everyone wants better gas mileage, but no oone wants to fund the R&D departments that will make it happen. Crazy.
Huh? WTF? Look, you just plug sh!t into the wall, & you get power. Flip the light switch, & you the lights come on. Don't tell me anything about coal, you just plug it in & flip the switch & it works.
Do the taxpayers have to pay for the hard drugs these EPA fruitcakes are taking???
I'm sure we already are.
There isn't a carmaker in the world that could make an internal combustion car that wouldn't be a leaf-blower on steroids with three or four bicycle tires and Fred Flintstone brakes, that would even come close to that kind of MPG. These unidentified f***ing idiots (UFI*'s) in these unnecessary bureaucracies are nothing more than high paid street thugs in the unwilling employee of "We the People" and the miserable and traitorous hands of the CPUSA!
Not entirely true.
http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/90434-2012-vw-passat-brings-hybrid-beating-diesel-tech-stateside
Can someone explain to me why the fuel with the LEAST amount of refining (diesel) is so freaking expensive?
Exports.. I was reading about this earlier.. in fact, TransCanada wants its crude delivered to Texas because there's more capacity for refining diesel and shipping it to Latin America is much cheaper.
The only way the auto industry can meet the new milage requirement is by building smaller, lighter cars using more plastic, more aluminum and less steel.
Look for an increase in traffic deaths as a result.
Tin cans crush easily.
The EPA should be wiped out by Romney when he takes office in January, & he should do so the same way Nixon created it. By EXECUTIVE ORDER.
I've been thinking about all this liberal nonsense about Romney being uncaring, making those companies lay off huge numbers of people and all. Actually, I'd like to see a HUGE lay-off of people. Bigger than all corporate lay-offs combined. Lay off all the government "workers" that either do nothing, or do something, but it's bad for the country.