Autoblog

Last December, President Bush signed a new energy bill into law that requires automakers to achieve a Corporate Average Fuel Economy standard of 35 mpg by 2020. This historic stiffening of CAFE standards set a lofty goal, but left plenty of time to get there and new standards of any kind won't begin until the 2011 model year. Today, which happens to be Earth Day, U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters laid out the first set of new CAFE rules that will be implemented for passenger vehicles and light trucks from 2011 through 2015.

The first step on the path to 35 mpg by 2020 will be increases of 4.5% in CAFE standards for passenger vehicles and light trucks over the five-year period spanning 2011 and 2015. This means that standards for passenger vehicles will rise from the current 27.5 mpg to 35.7 mpg by 2015, while light trucks will go from 23.5 mpg to 28.6 mpg. The NHTSA claims the new interim standards will save 55 billion gallons of gasoline and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 521 million metric tons. They also claim that drivers will save $100 billion in fuel costs over the lifetime of vehicles that fall under the rule.

We decided to reach out to the Big 3 automakers in the U.S. to ask for a comment, and both Ford and Chrysler are keeping mum until they've had a chance to read over the new rules. General Motors, meanwhile, already released a statement reiterating what it said last December, which is that it will meet the new standards despite how tough they are.

Automakers are also able to earn credits when they happen to exceed the CAFE standards, and can either bank those for a time when they won't meet them or even sell the credits to other automakers at a cost below what the fine would be for not meeting the standards. We've heard rumors, for instance, that Honda's sitting on a healthy pile of credits.

Now that we have an actual CAFE target for the auto industry to hit in the near term, expect to see a flurry of activity from automakers. Lithium-ion plug-in hybrids, series hybrids, diesels and all-electric cars will likely be the new technologies that help the industry meet these new interim CAFE standards by 2015, and the first change set for 2011 is not far away at all.

[Source: NHTSA]

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson (shown above) has found himself with few friends after denying California's request for a waiver to regulate its own emissions. The denial was issued shortly after President Bush signed the new energy bill into law, leaving some to wonder if the auto industry struck a deal with the White House - we'll give you your energy bill if you give us one national emissions standard to follow, i.e. don't allow California to set its own set of stricter emissions standards. How did the White House get involved? A few newspapers have reported that Vice President Dick Cheney met with each of the Big 3 domestic automakers in the months leading up to the energy bill's passage. Did Cheney order EPA chief Johnson to deny California's request against the unanimous counsel of his advisors? Who knows, but the appearance of impropriety is there.

Johnson, however, is the one who has to back up the decision to deny California the ability to set its own emissions standards. As such, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) has invited him to the Golden State to explain his decision to an eager audience that includes Edmund G. Brown Jr. (Attorney General of California), Mary Nichols (Chairperson of the California Air Resources Board), Fran Pavley (Senior Advisor, Natural Resources Defense Council), and Carl Pope (Executive Director of the Sierra Club) – a truly hostile crowd if ever there was one. There will no doubt be other curious senators in attendance for this field briefing, scheduled for January 10th. Since it's just an invitation, we're fairly certain that Johnson doesn't have to go, but for his own safety he better not show up with the automakers' interests as his only justification for the controversial decision.

[Source: Senate.gov via AutoblogGreen, Photo by Jonathan Ernst/Getty]

This morning President Bush put pen to paper (no doubt one of those really cool American President pens) and signed into law the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, all 822 pages of it. As we all know by now, the pillar of the law is an increase in Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards to 35 mpg by 2020. The increases will be built up over time beginning with the 2011 model year, which really isn't that far away. The measures regarding CAFE also don't apply fleetwide as one single standard, but will be adjusted based on the type of car or truck being measured. Nevertheless, after decades of nary a budge in this country's CAFE standards, an increase of some 40% is monumental and will likely begin immediately affecting the cars and trucks we buy.

We mustn't forget the path fraught with peril that this bill took to reach the President's desk. After being passed by the House of Representatives thanks to a compromise between Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), the bill moved to the Senate where it was voted on twice and failed before a large $21.8 billion tax provision was removed. Until that point, the President had promised to veto the bill. Without the tax provision, however, the bill was finally passed by the Senate, and then reapproved by the House just yesterday.

In order to meet the standards, we expect automakers to begin producing more mild hybrids in the near future, with full-on parallel hybrids being at least an option on most vehicles after that. The use of modern clean-diesel engines will also proliferate, especially in light-duty half-ton trucks like the Ford F-150 and Chevy Silverado that would have trouble meeting their own CAFE targets with traditional V8 engines. Then there's more exotic technology, like the series hybrid system being developed by GM for the Chevy Volt. If successful, expect other automakers to very quickly follow suit with their own series hybrid drivetrains. There's lots of simple and more complex technologies on the table that automakers will utilize to increase their CAFE rating, and no doubt the cost of developing these systems will be passed on to the consumer to some degree, as well. Supporters of the bill, however, remind us that reducing our dependance on foreign oil is a very good thing, and in the end, we only get one Earth on which to live.

[Source: The Detroit News, Photo by Shawn Thew-Pool/Getty]

Once the Senate removed a big $21.8 billion tax package that Democrats had hoped would be included in our nation's new energy bill, the bill itself began sailing through the halls of Congress. After finally being passed by the Senate on the third try, the bill returned to the House of Representatives, which has to revote on it since the Senate had trimmed a little here and added a little there. The core of the bill, an increase in Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards to 35 mpg by 2020, has remained and the House overhwhelmingly passed the revised bill today by a vote of 314 - 100. Thus, we can now officially say that the United States Congress has approved the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. You'll know doubt hear politicians crooning about its historical significance on the news networks tonight, and truth be told, it is a big deal and will force automakers to apply every bit of ingenuity they have to meet the new CAFE standards in time while providing consumers with cars and trucks that they actually want to buy.

The bill will now be delivered to President Bush who has said he will sign it into law tomorrow. Ladies and gentleman, drink up, we have a new energy bill.

UPDATE: Ford and Chrysler's official responses to the new energy bill added after the jump.

[Source: Associated Press, Reuters]

Earlier today, the U.S. Senate voted on the new Energy Bill that was recently passed by the House of Representatives before failing to get enough votes on the Senate floor its first time around. Today the bill again failed to pass in the Senate's hallowed hall by a single vote. The end tally was 59-40, which means Democrats much have changed a few minds since the first vote was 53-42.

But all hope is not lost for the Senators who want to get this bill passed. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has said that $21.8 billion in new taxes will be removed from the bill and another vote will take place later today. The hope is that by dropping the taxes, the bill will curry favor with at least one more politician who was previously unwilling to vote for it before. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has already confirmed that House would pass a new version of the bill sans the $21.8 million in taxes, which tells you just how much Democrats want this bill to land on the President's desk.

So what gets left behind in order to get the new Energy Bill passed? The Detroit News reports that the revised bill will not include $1 billion in consumer tax credits for buying plug-in hybrids, and will nix a 20% tax credit for people who convert their vehicles into plug-in hybrids. What remains of the bill, however, is its core piece of legislation that will raise Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards to 35 mpg by 2020. The White House has repeatedly stated, however, that it plans to veto the bill if it passes both houses of Congress. And the saga continues...

[Source: The Detroit News]

Despite being passed by the House of Representatives yesterday by a 235 to 181 margin, the new energy bill reached the Senate floor this morning and failed to muster enough votes to move on to the White House, where the President has threatened a veto of it in its current state. The Senate vote was 53 to 42, a majority but still seven votes shy of the 60 it needed. This means that the Senate will now spend the weekend reworking the bill, after which it will have to go back to the House for approval yet again. The funny thing is, the automotive industry actually supports the bill in its current state, despite the fact that it calls for a jump in CAFE requirements to a fleet-wide average of 35 mpg by 2020. Even with the support of the industry, politicians seem intent on keeping this bill running around in circles.

[Source: Automotive News]