Fuel Efficiency
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Just as the Trump administration moves to roll back fuel economy standards, a new survey shows that Americans are dissatisfied with the fuel economy their cars already get. The American Customer Satisfaction Index survey for cars was released Tuesday, and among the 10 attributes the survey studied, fuel economy ranked last among factors Americans' found satisfying about their cars. Not only that, but people's satisfaction with the fuel economy in their cars fell a point compared with last year. Since the federal government began increasing fuel economy standards for cars in 2012 (and 2007 for...
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Best deals on green cars, Tesla scrutiny, Swiss stop diesels, EPA pushback: Today's Car News
The SEC issues subpoenas to Tesla over CEO Elon Musk's plan to take the company private. Switzerland halts registrations of some diesels from Mercedes-Benz and Porsche. New records show internal pushback at the EPA over freezing fuel-economy regulations. And we run down the best deals on green cars...
Eric C. Evarts -
Chevy Bolt EV road trip, GM patents, charger disruptions, resources report: Today's Car News
GM files patents for three new active aerodynamic aids. A reader's family finds enough charging outlets to make a 2,000-mile road trip in a Chevy Bolt EV. Our readers report they often find electric-car chargers that don't work. And a report draws some surprising conclusions about electric cars'...
Eric C. Evarts -
GM files patents for new active aerodynamic aids
General Motors filed patent applications in June for three types of active aerodynamic systems that could make cars more efficient and potentially even give electric cars longer ranges. The three patent applications were all filed as part of Chevrolet's design for the new eighth-generation...
Eric C. Evarts -
The 7 best plug-in cars for students going back to school
Today's environmentally conscious students are thinking more about the environment in the choices they make. They still need to get around, but they may be less likely to accept the price of doing so in a car with a tailpipe spewing pollution and greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Many may need...
Eric C. Evarts -
Analysis: Is shale oil a cost effective switch or just a dent in our wallets?
Shale oil's prevalence in the American oil market may present a large obstacle for rising fuel economy standards. Shale oil creates gasoline with a lower octane rating than gasoline created by conventional crude oil. This is due to higher concentrations of elemental components such as Naphtha...
Green Car Reports -
Last week we listed seven of the most bizarre "green" cars (and some not-so-green) of the 20th century, most of which were rolled out in response to depression, war recovery, or out-of-control gas prices. This week, we'll look at seven more from the 21st century, which seems to have had a concentrated share of attempts at innovation in response to war in the Middle East, high gas prices, and deep recession. One notable difference is that this century's cars mostly run on electricity, or at least offer an electric option. They're hardly any more normal, though. Most are answers to a question...
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2019 Chevy Silverado will offer new turbo-4 that can run on 2 cylinders
Chevrolet announced last week that its upcoming 2019 Silverado full-size pickup will offer a new turbo-4 in place of the base V-6 in some models. Like the V-8s in some of GM's large pickups, the new engine will have active cylinder management that cuts two of the four cylinders during light loads...
Eric C. Evarts -
Shell Airflow Starship semi truck leaves San Diego on record fuel-economy run
Truck driver Bob Sliwa hit the road on Thursday night in his carbon-fiber-bodied, diesel-powered semi truck, as he attempts to set a fuel economy record for big rigs by the time he pulls into Jacksonville, Fla., next Wednesday. The endeavor, sponsored by Shell and the North American Council for...
Eric C. Evarts -
CFA study shows better gas mileage standards offset cost of modern safety tech
Cars that get good gas mileage aren't unsafe. In fact, gas savings have more than paid for safety improvements in modern cars, as well as for the technology needed to make the gains in fuel economy.
Eric C. Evarts -
EPA rates 2018 Jeep Wrangler turbo-4 gas mileage; plug-in, diesel to come later
The new 2018 Wrangler is a big deal for Jeep, and in its redesign the company didn't leave its fuel economy stuck in the mud. In addition to the fuel-swilling V-6, the new Wrangler will be available with a more efficient turbocharged 4-cylinder engine, and the EPA has just revealed exactly how...
Joel Feder -
2011 Volkswagen Jetta TDI SportWagen driven: Fixed, but does it matter?
The brown diesel wagon I’m driving spent last winter confined to a dusty parking lot south of Colorado Springs. Thousands of other TDIs, ranging from Beetles to luxurious Audi Q7 crossovers, remain captive in massive holding facilities across the U.S. Some are finally heading home, to used car...
Andrew Ganz -
Japan began investigating the company last year for falsifying fuel-economy and emissions reports at its two factories in the country, and Subaru has now confirmed that final testing data was manipulated on more than 900 cars going back to 2002.
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Shell Airflow Starship semi truck aims for fuel-economy record
Bob Sliwa aims to set a new semi-truck fuel-economy record when he leaves San Diego, Calif., on May 17 in his Shell Airflow Starship truck. Hauling his full-sized trailer fully loaded to the truck's 80,000 pounds capacity, he aims to set the fuel economy record for a loaded Class 8 truck in a...
Eric C. Evarts -
Draft EPA memo freezes fuel economy standards at 42 mpg through 2026
Rather than continue to ratchet standards up to 54.5 mpg by 2025, as the current law requires, the new proposal would stall out fuel economy increases at just short of 42 mpg in 2020, and hold them there through 2026.
Eric C. Evarts -
Trump loses court battle to roll back automaker gas mileage fines
Automakers may complain about rising gas mileage standards, but as several have proved over the years, they don't always have to meet them. Another strategy, employed regularly over the years by a few automakers is to ignore the fuel economy standards and just pay the penalties for missing them...
Eric C. Evarts -
2019 Jeep Cherokee gas mileage review
While plug-in electric cars are steadily growing in sales, they still pale in comparison to the hundreds of thousands of compact crossover utility vehicles sold each year by virtually every major carmaker. In 2017, Toyota's most popular vehicle became the RAV4 small SUV, supplanting the Camry...
John Voelcker -
Carmakers want emission, CAFE tweaks, not huge rollbacks, but won't say so publicly
As promised, the Trump administration has embarked on regulatory rollbacks across many fronts, some immediate and others taking longer. It remains unclear whether the EPA's plan to loosen carbon-dioxide emission limits for 2022 through 2025 vehicles will survive inevitable court challenges...
John Voelcker -
These are not good times for the makers or owners of diesel cars, particularly in their European stronghold, where on average half of all new vehicles had been sold with diesel engines. Strict new real-world emission tests have proven hard to meet, consumers are starting to shy away from buying new diesels, and the values of used cars with diesel engines have fallen. Now, more pain for German automakers may be on the way as authorities walk the tightrope between reducing smog-causing emissions and preserving tens of thousands of jobs. DON'T MISS: Audi, Mercedes now updating European diesels...
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More sedan, smaller, entry models bite the dust in Detroit
Two years ago this month, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles essentially threw in the towel on the "automobiles" part of its name. Canceling the compact Dodge Dart and the mid-size Chrysler 200 sedans, the company doubled down on the pickup trucks and utility vehicles that had long been its profit centers...
John Voelcker -
EPA does not set fuel-economy limits: get this right, journalists!
Journalism as an industry is under great pressure these days. There are far more people writing "content" than in past decades, and in general they are having to produce more of it for less money than they did 10, 20, or 50 years ago. That's no excuse, however, for getting the basics wrong. DON'T...
John Voelcker -
Pruitt's EPA emission rollback reasoning may well fail in court
Despite the sturm und drang around the announcement by embattled EPA chief Scott Pruitt that he will relax emission limits for 2022 through 2025 vehicles, not much will happen immediately. His determination last week that the Obama administration was "incorrect" and that the limits on those...
John Voelcker -
Pruitt's EPA decision: 38-page intention vs 1,217 pages of analysis
While the name of EPA administrator Scott Pruitt is often preceded by "embattled" these days, his agency is now on record as rejecting its own recommendation of just 16 months ago. It concluded in July 2016 that the auto industry had handily met lower carbon-emission limits from 2012 through...
John Voelcker -
Why trucks aren't a CAFE problem for carmakers, despite their lobbying claims
The automakers claimed that the standards were unrealistic given that consumers are flocking to crossovers and pickup trucks as gas prices remain low. According to a new report by the American Council for an Energy Efficient economy, and to our own analysis, trucks aren't the reason.
Eric C. Evarts