EPA
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Lobbyists for the world's automakers continue to ask the new presidential administration to revisit an EPA decision to finalize emissions standards through 2025. Just days after the November election, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers wrote President-Elect Trump to ask that he reverse the decision on emissions standards made by the environmental agency during the final days of his predecessor's tenure. Last week, executives of 18 automakers have sent a second letter asking the same thing—one that used a discredited projection of job losses to make their case. DON'T MISS...
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Carmakers ask Trump to review EPA rules, use discredited job projection
Just days after the presidential election, an automaker lobbying group wrote Donald Trump asking him to change or delay an EPA decision that kept planned exhaust-emission standards through 2025. Now executives of 18 automakers have sent a second letter, asking the same thing—and echoing a...
John Voelcker -
What White House faces if it tries to roll back fuel-economy standards
Donald Trump won the U.S. Electoral College and swept into the White House on a varied platform that included significant promises to cut regulation and reduce government involvement in a wide variety of spheres. The day after his election, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers sent him a letter...
John Voelcker -
Emissions rules could cost 1 million jobs, Ford CEO tells Trump: what's behind that number? (further updated)
Among his actions during a whirlwind first week in office, U.S. President Donald Trump met last week with the CEOs of U.S. automakers Fiat Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors. He met on two consecutive days with Mark Fields, CEO of Ford, in fact. Fields was part of a group of manufacturing...
John Voelcker -
Settlement for Audi, Porsche, VW 3.0-liter diesel TDI owners announced
Volkswagen today announced that it had reached a settlement with owners of Audi, Porsche, and VW vehicles fitted with its 3.0-liter V-6 diesel engine. Different remedies apply depending on the vehicle's model year: 2009 through 2012 cars will be bought back, while 2013 through 2016 vehicles will be...
John Voelcker -
Trump EPA: climate science still live, gag order remains, grants unfrozen (updated)
Following the removal of all mentions of climate change from the White House website, the new administration has apparently trained its sights on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA and a handful of other government agencies are now reportedly under gag orders: employees are forbidden...
John Voelcker -
Along with price, the top-line statistic cited for any battery-electric car is its rated range. Until last month, the only electric cars that exceeded 200 miles in that metric were made by Tesla Motors. Now, the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV has a 238-mile EPA rating for range—and that's usually the leading point about the Bolt EV in discussions or coverage. DON'T MISS: Hyundai Ioniq Electric beats Prius Prime, BMW i3 on energy efficiency Hyundai thinks that the energy efficiency of battery-electric cars should play a much greater role in the discussion than it does today. The company's point...
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More than two-thirds of Americans accept climate science, regardless of Trump
The new U.S. administration has made it clear that it does not accept the scientific consensus on climate change. From President Donald Trump down through his nominees for key roles—Scott Pruitt for EPA adminstrator, Rick Perry for Department of Energy head, and others—key elected and...
John Voelcker -
New Tesla Model S 100D version rated at 335 miles of electric range
If anything, the pace of new Tesla model changes seem to have increased of late. Over the last year, a 60-kilowatt-hour battery option has reappeared, a new 100-kwh battery was launched, followed by a sequence of software updates to make it faster, and all Autopilot sensors were replaced with new...
John Voelcker -
Electric cars improving fast, CA should raise zero-emission requirements: report
For 50 years now, California has been at the very forefront of reducing vehicle emissions. It was doing so before the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was even formed, and its powerful Air Resources Board has been a vital force in getting plug-in electric vehicles onto the state's roads...
John Voelcker -
Rest of world: Trump may roll back emission rules, but we won't
With auto-industry lobbyists pushing to have the Trump Administration roll back current and future emission and fuel-economy rules, automakers clearly see the new U.S. regime as more friendly to the needs of business. And it's possible that indeed, the EPA's vehicle emission limits, the NHTSA's...
John Voelcker -
All 2017 BMW diesels certified by EPA, production now starting
This might not seem to be the most convenient moment to restart production of a gaggle of diesel cars. The Volkswagen diesel scandal continues to unfold, and last week the EPA accused Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) of failing to reveal eight separate software routines that altered the behavior of...
Stephen Edelstein -
It's been a busy week for U.S. agencies as they release information on their final actions before a new administration takes office. Yesterday the U.S. Department of Justice reportedly opened a criminal probe into the actions of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles over the emission certification of its diesel engines. The investigation follows an announcement Thursday by the EPA that FCA failed to disclose eight separate software routines that affect the engine's emissions. DON'T MISS: EPA says Ram, Jeep diesel emission software violates Clean Air Act That failure to disclose auxiliary emission-control...
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EPA finalizes emission rules through 2025; no change from existing levels
Seven days before the advent of a new presidential administration, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has locked in planned auto-emission standards through 2025. The emission limits tie directly to fuel-efficiency rules issued by the NHTSA, effectively requiring those rules to stay the same...
John Voelcker -
Emission updates for 2015 VW, Audi 2.0-liter TDI diesels OKed by regulators
The $14.7 billion diesel-emission settlement among Volkswagen and regulatory agencies required VW to buy back or modify almost half a million TDI vehicles from model years 2009 through 2015. While the buybacks have received the most attention—and most owners are expected to take...
John Voelcker -
Clean energy to grow, coal to fade, regardless of Trump EPA plans
President-elect Donald Trump's choice of Oklahoma attorney general Scott Pruitt to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) indicates that his administration will pursue radically different energy policies from its predecessor's. Pruitt is a climate-science denier, and has sued the agency he...
Stephen Edelstein -
Trump supported ethanol, but his team may not; is oil the reason?
Several members of Trump's team are against ethanol, advisor Carl Icahn said in a recent interview.
Stephen Edelstein -
Fuel-economy rules not the cause of rising auto prices: analysis
Automakers are wrongfully blaming fuel-economy rules for increased prices, analysts argue.
Stephen Edelstein -
Obama administration officials are working to expedite new automotive regulations.
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Trump's EPA head Pruitt: climate-science denier who sued the EPA many times
If there were any doubt that president-elect Donald Trump supports fossil fuels and does not believe in the scientific consensus of climate change, his pick to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency should put it to rest. Yesterday, he named Oklahoma attorney general Scott Pruitt, a...
John Voelcker -
Automaker lobbyists fail to overturn EPA emission rules
A week ago, the EPA recommended that U.S. vehicle emission standards stay put for the years 2022 through 2025. According to the Technical Assessment Report the agency issued in July, automakers have so far quite successfully met standards in place since 2012 to cut emissions of the climate-change...
John Voelcker -
Ford will ask Trump to cut fuel-economy rules, CEO says; 'no demand' for hybrid, electric cars
Ford will ask President-elect Donald Trump to lower fuel-economy standards, CEO Mark Fields said in a recent interview.
Stephen Edelstein -
Carmakers howl about CAFE rules, but regularly beat them; why?
Automakers want less-strict CAFE standards, but the regularly beat the current ones.
Stephen Edelstein -
EPA keeps car-emission rules to 2025; what happens under Trump?
Two days ago, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a ruling that existing limits on tailpipe emissions of carbon dioxide for 2022 through 2025 should remain in place. The EPA's carbon limits correspond exactly to NHTSA standards for corporate average fuel economy, and the EPA decision...
John Voelcker