EPA to become more realistic in fuel consumption estimates

[Webmaster]

And they will start putting fuel consumption statements on larger trucks.

Vehicle mileage estimates get real
Ratings for '08 models, especially hybrids, will drop in new EPA tests.
By John O'Dell, Times Staff Writer
December 12, 2006


That 55-mile-per-gallon hybrid car you've been eyeing may end up being a 44-mpg hybrid if you wait for the 2008 model.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency announced a new system Monday for evaluating fuel economy that will lower mileage estimates for most vehicles.

On average, vehicles rated under the 2008 method will post a 12% drop in city gasoline mileage and an 8% decline in highway mileage, said Bill Wehrum, the EPA's acting assistant administrator for air and radiation.

With the new testing requirements, the EPA is attempting to come up with estimates that more closely reflect the real-world mileage motorists can expect when they purchase a vehicle.

Under the current system, which has been in effect since 1975 and was last changed in 1984, actual mileage is often far lower than the posted EPA ratings.

Hybrids will be hit harder because the new test eliminates some of the all-electric driving that helped them produce impressive results under the present system, Wehrum said.

For the first time, the EPA also will require estimated mileage to be posted on medium-duty pickup trucks, vans and sport utility vehicles — behemoths such as the Ford Excursion that weigh between 8,500 and 10,000 pounds.

Such vehicles have been exempted from the ratings because they were considered commercial trucks. But as growing numbers of Americans adopt large SUVs and pickups as family vehicles, environmentalists and others have called on regulators to require mileage information for them as well.

Automakers won't have to publicize the big trucks' mileage estimates until the 2011 model year, however. The EPA did not explain the three-year delay but typically gives manufacturers substantial lead time when applying new regulations.

A recent study by automotive information website Edmunds.com found that the average mileage for passenger cars and light trucks was about 14% less than EPA estimates.

In part that's because the agency's current test doesn't include much stop-and-go traffic or lead-footed acceleration. Air conditioners — notorious for lowering mileage by sucking up engine power — aren't turned on, and all testing is done under conditions that simulate a 70-degree environment.

The new system will use more high-speed driving, partly in 20-degree cold. Air conditioning will be on some portion of each driving cycle, and there will be more stop-and-go and rapid-acceleration driving.

The mileage for gas-electric hybrids probably will be 20% to 30% lower than present estimates for city driving and 10% to 20% lower on the highway. These vehicles quickly lose their all-electric advantage when operated in cold weather or quickly accelerated, Wehrum said.

"This is all about providing more and better information to consumers," he said.

Toyota Motor Corp., which makes the popular Prius hybrid, now rated at 60 miles per gallon in the city and 51 on the highway — a combined rating of 55 mpg — supports the changes.

"This doesn't change the car or the technology, just the way the mileage is calculated," said Ming-Jou Chen, spokeswoman for Torrance-based Toyota Motor Sales USA. "It makes the estimate closer to real-world numbers, and we fully support that."

Moe Durand, a spokesman for Mitsubishi Motors Corp., which is bringing one of the first 2008 models to market in the U.S., said he was "quite pleased" with the averages cited Monday by EPA officials.

Environmental groups applauded, too.

The EPA "did an excellent job" with the revisions, said Russell Long, executive director of the Bluewater Network, the San Francisco-based environmental group that sought the changes. The new procedures can help motorists save money and reduce pollution by providing more accurate mileage information for them to use in their car-buying decisions, Long said.

"We're thrilled with it," he said.

The new system seems to be one that even auto dealers — notoriously sensitive to anything that could hurt a sale — can get behind.

"It won't have a big impact," said Fritz Hitchcock, whose Hitchcock Automotive Resources of Puente Hills owns several Toyota franchises and a BMW dealership.

"There's such intense comparison shopping on the Internet that people will know all about the changes" before ever setting foot in a dealership, he said. "And in the end, people find a reason to buy what they want to buy" regardless of mileage estimates.

Automakers are working on a plan for 2008 models that come out in 2007 that will enable shoppers to see the new fuel economy estimates and the mileage ratings that would have been attached to the vehicle under the present system.

As part of the new approach, the EPA redesigned its fuel economy window sticker.

It will provide a range of mileage for competing vehicles; estimated city and highway mileage for the vehicle displaying the sticker; the vehicle's estimated fuel costs for a year, based on 15,000 miles of driving; and a caution that gas mileage will vary based on driving conditions and driving styles.

The new EPA mileage estimates won't harm automakers' ability to meet federal rules requiring an industrywide average fuel economy of 27.5 miles per gallon for cars and 21 mpg for sport utility vehicles, pickup trucks and vans.

Those requirements are part of the corporate average fuel economy program run by the Transportation Department.

Source: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-fuel12dec12,0,1026595.story?coll=la-home-headlines

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Very good article in the NY Times

New Federal Fuel Economy Ratings Set a Double Standard

GOVERNMENT regulators, along with most American drivers, have long understood that the fuel economy estimates on the window stickers of new cars can be laughably optimistic. Even the federal fuel economy label serves notice that the actual mileage will depend on options, driving habits and other conditions.

So this month the Environmental Protection Agency revised its method for calculating mileage, an effort to provide more realistic numbers for shoppers considering a new vehicle. The change, which takes effect on 2008 model year vehicles, will be considerable; miles per gallon in city driving may drop by as much as 30 percent for gas-sippers like hybrids, the agency says. On average, city mileage for all vehicles is expected to be about 12 percent lower; highway estimates could be as much as 8 percent lower.

The new method of calculation recognizes that Americans drive faster, accelerate more quickly and use the air-conditioning more frequently than the federal mileage tests have been taking into account. It also takes into consideration changes in the ways Americans now buy and use vehicles, especially as large S.U.V.’s have evolved from work trucks to family haulers.

For the first time, trucks with a gross (fully loaded) weight rating of more than 8,500 pounds will have to carry fuel economy labels, beginning with the 2011 model year. Previously, large pickups and S.U.V.’s in this class (like the Hummer H2) were exempt; the new cutoff will be 10,000 pounds.

When the new stickers begin to appear, there is bound to be confusion. Labels carrying mileage figures based on the new calculations will be required on Sept. 1, 2007, making it plausible that the buyer of an ’08 Chevrolet Impala will see a lower m.p.g estimate on the window sticker than a neighbor who bought an ’07 model a week earlier — even if the cars are mechanically identical.

Of course, the federal fuel economy ratings were not established for consumer education alone. The program began under the Energy Policy Conservation Act of 1975, after the Arab oil embargo, as part of an effort to improve fuel economy and reduce oil imports. The fuel economy data is compiled by the E.P.A.; in most cases, the tests are conducted by automakers and spot-checked by regulators.

To enforce a schedule of gradual improvements, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration was given the authority to establish standards for corporate average fuel economy, or CAFE. Under the law, each automaker must maintain minimum fleet averages for its cars and trucks to avoid penalties. But here’s the rub: Even though regulators have now agreed that the method in use for estimating fuel economy is unrealistic and needs to be revised, it will continue to be used for calculating compliance with CAFE mandates.

The decision to approach the fuel economy problem through the label and not the vehicle came from Congress, which tried to address consumer dissatisfaction by ordering the change as part of the Energy Policy Act it passed in the summer of 2005.

Gas mileage is a touchy subject not only among consumers, but also in Congress, where it took an explicit political compromise to pass the ratings change. Part of the deal was that the older, less realistic formula would still be used for CAFE compliance, which is 27.5 miles a gallon for cars, and a figure for light trucks (pickups, vans and S.U.V.’s) of 22.2 m.p.g. for 2007.

the rest of the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/24/automobiles/24LABEL.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1