CAFE stds on the chopping block
NYT Good riddance. There is no way that the average fleet mileage would ever come close to those numbers anyway. Hopefully the ethanol scam will be cut at the same time.
Forum Discussion
NJRVer wrote:
40 years ago the auto companies complained they couldn't meet standards.
Then 30 years ago they complained they couldn't meet standards.
Then 20 years ago they complained they couldn't meet standards.
Guess what? They met them and they are still here.
At WHAT COST?
30 yrs ago you could buy a fully loaded top trim level 1 ton pickup truck for a mere $12K! Sure it only got 10 MPG empty but considering today you will pay in excess of $60K for fully loaded 1 Ton pickup truck and it only gets 14 MPG empty!
The Companies were forced to spend BILLIONS of dollars per year to "clean" the air and "improve" economy.. The companies cannot afford to absorb that cost so that cost IS PASSED ONTO THE CUSTOMERS!
I am not against clean air, but there ARE considerable limitations to just how much more "reduction" in pollution and increase in mileage can be had.. There are many inherent losses with Internal combustion engines that cannot be helped or "improved".. There becomes a point in time where the gains are so small compared to what the consumer can bear in costs.
One of the CHEAPEST solutions to improving the "economy" is to REDUCE or REMOVE the alcohol!..
Cutting gas with alcohol easily reduces the mileage by 10% or a bit more.. You end up using more gas overall and the alcohol process burns up a lot of energy in crops and processing..
