As our colleagues over at AutoblogGreen note, with all the lobbying going on this week for and against tougher fuel economy standards, it's been tough following who's for what and what's good for whom. Regardless, the debate came to end late yesterday when the Senate agreed to a portion of the new energy bill that calls for raising the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standard to 35 mpg by 2020 for both cars and trucks. The current CAFE standard is 27.5 mpg for cars and 22.5 mpg for trucks.
The new bill is a compromise of sorts, as a proposed annual 4% increase in the CAFE standards after they reach 35 mpg in 2020 was scrapped along with a $29 billion tax package that would have paid for tax breaks for producers of alternative fuels and owners of plug-in hybrids.
All is not over, as the larger energy bill will continued to be debated today, and then the bill will move over to the House of Representatives. If it passes through the House, there's no guarantee the president won't strike it down with his veto pen, as he's already stated he does not approve of specific mileage numbers. Nevertheless, yesterday's 65-27 vote was somewhat historic considering how effective the auto industry has lobbied against raising CAFE standards for decades.
[Source: Automotive News, AutoblogGreen]
The new bill is a compromise of sorts, as a proposed annual 4% increase in the CAFE standards after they reach 35 mpg in 2020 was scrapped along with a $29 billion tax package that would have paid for tax breaks for producers of alternative fuels and owners of plug-in hybrids.
All is not over, as the larger energy bill will continued to be debated today, and then the bill will move over to the House of Representatives. If it passes through the House, there's no guarantee the president won't strike it down with his veto pen, as he's already stated he does not approve of specific mileage numbers. Nevertheless, yesterday's 65-27 vote was somewhat historic considering how effective the auto industry has lobbied against raising CAFE standards for decades.
[Source: Automotive News, AutoblogGreen]
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