First it was emission standards; now it is new mileage standard rules that will be force automakers to build vehicles that will average 38 miles to the gallon and up to 65 MPG by 2031.
New vehicles sold in the U.S. will have to average about 38 miles per gallon of gasoline in 2031 in real-world driving, up from about 29 mpg this year, under new federal rules unveiled Friday by the Biden administration.
The final rule will increase fuel economy by 2% per year for model years 2027 to 2031 for passenger cars, while SUVs and other light trucks will increase by 2% per year for model years 2029 to 2031, according to requirements released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The final figures are below a proposal released last year. Administration officials said the less stringent requirements will allow the auto industry flexibility to focus on electric vehicles, adding that higher gas-mileage requirements would have imposed significant costs on consumers without sufficient fuel savings to offset them.
I mean, that kind of gas mileage, if all the weather and road conditions are absolutely perfect, sounds amazing doesn’t it? Except that attaining that kind of consistent gas mileage is, as I’ll point out later in this post, the exception to the rule.
What’s notable is how the media is phrasing this fabulous new standard. As the AP notes above, the initial 38 mpg threshold is lower than planned because the Biden Administration realized the cost of vehicle manufacturing would be through the roof.
Here’s another point to ponder with this new asinine mileage rule:
The new mileage standards announced by the Transportation Department are among several regulations the administration is using to prod carmakers to produce more electric vehicles. In April, the Environmental Protection Agency issued strict new limits on tailpipe pollution that are designed to ensure that the majority of new passenger cars and light trucks sold in the United States are all-electric or hybrids by 2032, up from 7.6 percent last year.
In addition to the regulations, the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, championed by Mr. Biden, provides tax credits for buyers of new and used electric vehicles, along with incentives for charging stations and grants and loans for manufacturers.
Read the above carefully. This new rule has no bearing on reality. It is solely to A. force automakers into building more EV’s and B. forcing consumers to buy something they really don’t want. C. Those tax credits are funded by you and I.
Automakers themselves have steadily and quickly backtracked from building electric vehicles this last year or so. Why? Because people aren’t buying them. And the cost to build them is cratering automakers bottom line.
Not only that, but the EV sales are only working because of the tax incentives which we taxpayers are on the hook for. If there weren’t tax incentives to buy or lease an electric vehicle, the sticker price would be through the roof!
The Biden Administration unveils this new regulation, put in place without Congressional or taxpayer say-so while ignoring the fact that the Administration can’t even put charging stations into place. Instead of thousands, we are at exactly EIGHT taxpayer-funded charging stations thus far.
Yes, Pete stumbled all over himself in explaining why it was so difficult to set more than 8 charging stations in place. What’s even worse is that his numbers don’t add up and it will be DECADES to get all of those set in place.
And let’s talk about why this new mileage standard of 38 mpg sounds fabulous, but is quite unrealistic. None of what the Biden Administration is putting forth takes into consideration road and weather conditions.
Hills or mountain passes? Yeah, even if you aren’t towing anything, your MPG is impacted. How about using your pickup to haul rock to xeriscape your yard? Do you know how much rock WEIGHS? Yeah, that will drop your MPG like a … ROCK in a hurry.
Swine. They want us to die in tin-can 2 cylinder cars.
— Karl Lagerpug (@CapVere) June 7, 2024
I carry 500lbs equipment in my BIG TRUCK every day for work. https://t.co/6Gs6uKibqn
Wind? Tailwinds are awesome! Side or headwinds? Sucks that MPG right down the tubes, especially when you are driving through areas like windy Wyoming. Don’t get me started on driving through snowstorms AKA blizzards.
Let me tell you something, when you are driving an electric OR gas vehicle and dealing with 40+ mile per hour headwinds, your mpg drops a LOT. EV owners beware: your battery life craters FAST. And there aren’t Fast Charging stations every 10 miles, and if there are chargers, some don’t work or take a full day to recharge your car.
It isn’t only automakers who are slowing or even damn near halting the production of EV’s. Buyers remorse is setting in with consumers and rental car companies. As Beege points out here, Hertz is sucking electric wind with about 60,000 EV rental vehicles that no one wants to rent nor purchase.
This mileage standard sounds terrific until one realizes this is a complete gambit to force consumers into buying something that is unworkable and impractical.
https://t.co/uHE2KcYRIu pic.twitter.com/c8tZjs8PX4
— Dan Ornelas (@DanielMOrnelas) June 7, 2024
Whether it is 35 or 65 mpg, that goal can only be attained by driving up the prices of manufacturing and thus the retail prices for electric vehicles themselves while kicking gas-powered cars to the curb.
This is the Green New Deal at work folks. Are we having fun yet?
Feature Photo Credit: car getting gas at fuel pump via iStock, cropped and modified
Dietrich says: Be like a Cuban, keep your old clunker running.
Of course the next step for the Marxists/Communists/Progressives/Democrats will be to start limiting gasoline and diesel supplies. Can’t drive it if you can’t fuel it.
NTSOG says: “It isn’t only automakers who are slowing or even damn near halting the production of EV’s. Buyers remorse is setting in with consumers and rental car companies.”
In Australia there are hundreds of Teslas sitting on the docks as sales have fallen dramatically. Fear of fires, limited range especially under load, limited charging points, high tyre wear, damage to roads, low resale value, limited repair service centres for fear of the tricky batteries have all contributed.
As Dietrich [above] says “keep your old clunker running”. An EV would be as useful to me a tits on a bull. I live in the country on a farm. There are no recharge points out in the country; they’re only in town centres – if they work. I use an old [1996] Nissan diesel 4×4 to tow heavy trailers with livestock and horses. My Nissan has done 400,000+ kms and should be good for far more. No one I know has an EV.
Scott says: Don’t forget that at least here in the states, auto insurance is FAR more expensive for EV or hybrid vehicles, as in 3-4 times as much as for a similar ICE vehicle.
NTSOG says: Thanks Scott, I forgot insurance which is more expensive in Australia too.
draigh says: How is it that unelected bureaucrats are allowed to force us to do things without a vote by Congress? It’s past time to pull the plug on these unelected simpletons telling us what to do!
Cameron says: We need to throw a few of the higher ranking people off of rooftops with Go Pros stapled to their heads and the video of their demise uploaded into the company’s conference rooms the next day. The rest should fall in line.
6 Comments