CAFE Standards: What You Need to Know

Last week, President Barack Obama announced new CAFE standards. While these new numbers seem like a big leap to require auto manufacturers to make, they were a long time in coming. Fuel economy standards hadn’t been significantly revised in nearly a decade. The new standards have the benefit of being constructed with input from auto makers and states who wanted higher standards, so a bunch of potentially expensive and contentious lawsuits were dropped as a result. Whew.

Here’s how it all breaks down:

• The average fuel economy of the manufacturers’ car and light truck fleets will increase by 5% every year beginning in 2012 and ending in 2016
• Cars must average 39 mpg; light trucks and SUVs must average 30 mpg by 2016
• Overall average will be 35.5; current overall average is 25 mpg
• Will go hand-in-hand with EPA initiative to reduce tailpipe CO2 emissions by 40%

What’s not known is how extended-range electric vehicles like the Chevy Volt or hydrogen cars like the Honda Clarity will figure into the calculations. The feds say they’re working on it.

If you’d like this information in a live, five-minute video starring yours truly, check out Portland’s KGW NewsChannel 8.