The Environmental Protection Agency says it will propose by the end of this year significant changes to the way it estimates automobile fuel economy ratings -- the miles-per-gallon numbers shoppers see on price stickers in the windows of trucks and cars.
The agency has long been faulted for test methods, based on decades-old driving habits, that in most cases overestimate the miles per gallon drivers can expect. The EPA is acting as consumer groups such as traveler-friendly American Automobile Association and Consumers Union, a nonprofit advocacy group, are calling for such changes, and consumers, spurred by the latest surge in gasoline prices, are paying more attention to their fuel consumption.
The agency said three changes will be at the core of its proposal:
Alter testing to reflect today's more aggressive and high-speed driving habits, as well as address traffic-stifling congestion in cities and expanding suburbs.
Account for vehicles driven in cold climates, where fuel economy suffers.
Calculate the impact of accessories, such as air conditioners, that cut fuel economy.
''My hope is, by the end of this year, we will have a proposed regulation published," Margo Oge, the EPA's director of transportation and air quality, said in a telephone interview last week .
The planned changes would put the EPA ''much more in line with our testing," said Jeffrey Asher, vice president and technical director at Consumer Reports, published by Consumers Union. A survey of 303 vehicles among those the magazine tested for the model years 2000-2006 -- each driven 8,000 to 10,000 miles -- found that, in 90 percent of the cases, EPA mileage estimates were inflated, in some cases grossly so.
Oge said the latest outcry has come from gas-conscious owners of new hybrid gasoline-electric vehicles such as the Toyota Prius who were expecting to get 50 or more miles per gallon based on EPA numbers. But in cold climates such as New England's, motorists sometimes get less than 40 miles per gallon. She said the agency has been studying the overall problem for a long time now.
The auto industry has opposed updating the EPA's mileage tests. Automakers have long benefited from fuel economy ratings often far higher than those found in real-world driving, and not just in selling vehicles to cautious consumers.
The same mileage estimates are used by the auto companies as they attempt to meet federal regulations that require their fleets of cars and trucks to achieve designated average miles per gallon goals. Today's rules, known as Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards, require a company's fleet of cars to average 27.5 miles per gallon and light trucks, including SUVs, 21.0 miles per gallon.
Because companies are having a difficult time meeting efficiency goals even as they benefit from inflated numbers, any major change in EPA testing methods could have ''a direct and adverse affect on CAFE compliance," said Eron Shosteck, director of communications for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a group of foreign and domestic automobile builders
Read more of the article here:
http://www.boston.com/cars/articles/2005/09/18/epa_plans_to_revamp_mileage_testing/
The agency has long been faulted for test methods, based on decades-old driving habits, that in most cases overestimate the miles per gallon drivers can expect. The EPA is acting as consumer groups such as traveler-friendly American Automobile Association and Consumers Union, a nonprofit advocacy group, are calling for such changes, and consumers, spurred by the latest surge in gasoline prices, are paying more attention to their fuel consumption.
The agency said three changes will be at the core of its proposal:
Alter testing to reflect today's more aggressive and high-speed driving habits, as well as address traffic-stifling congestion in cities and expanding suburbs.
Account for vehicles driven in cold climates, where fuel economy suffers.
Calculate the impact of accessories, such as air conditioners, that cut fuel economy.
''My hope is, by the end of this year, we will have a proposed regulation published," Margo Oge, the EPA's director of transportation and air quality, said in a telephone interview last week .
The planned changes would put the EPA ''much more in line with our testing," said Jeffrey Asher, vice president and technical director at Consumer Reports, published by Consumers Union. A survey of 303 vehicles among those the magazine tested for the model years 2000-2006 -- each driven 8,000 to 10,000 miles -- found that, in 90 percent of the cases, EPA mileage estimates were inflated, in some cases grossly so.
Oge said the latest outcry has come from gas-conscious owners of new hybrid gasoline-electric vehicles such as the Toyota Prius who were expecting to get 50 or more miles per gallon based on EPA numbers. But in cold climates such as New England's, motorists sometimes get less than 40 miles per gallon. She said the agency has been studying the overall problem for a long time now.
The auto industry has opposed updating the EPA's mileage tests. Automakers have long benefited from fuel economy ratings often far higher than those found in real-world driving, and not just in selling vehicles to cautious consumers.
The same mileage estimates are used by the auto companies as they attempt to meet federal regulations that require their fleets of cars and trucks to achieve designated average miles per gallon goals. Today's rules, known as Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards, require a company's fleet of cars to average 27.5 miles per gallon and light trucks, including SUVs, 21.0 miles per gallon.
Because companies are having a difficult time meeting efficiency goals even as they benefit from inflated numbers, any major change in EPA testing methods could have ''a direct and adverse affect on CAFE compliance," said Eron Shosteck, director of communications for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a group of foreign and domestic automobile builders
Read more of the article here:
http://www.boston.com/cars/articles/2005/09/18/epa_plans_to_revamp_mileage_testing/
