Commentary

Sounds like a good plan to me, but it’s hard to not freak out, and want to change everyone and everything NOW…

It is tough.  I confess to being infuriated at times by my fellow man.  For example, the US has some of the weakest fuel economy standards in the developed world and the Hummer isn’t even covered by them.  The Hummer weighs 100 lbs more than the limit of the regulation: 8500 lbs.  So in effect, the manufacturers have an incentive to make their big vehicles heavier and less fuel efficient so that then they are not subject to the rules.

No offence intended, but people need to quit targeting Hummers as the de facto bad boy of fuel consumption. Why? Face it—there are so few Hummers on the road compared to other vehicles that get just as bad fuel economy.

It’s easy to make a Hummer-owner a poster-child of offensive behavior, but there are literally millions of other vehicles sliding by under the radar while we point at the BIG spenders. You could remove all the Hummers from the road tomorrow and see very little gain in air quality. Granted it’s a step, but we make it easy for the guy getting 13 mpg in a luxury V-8 sedan to think he’s not part of the problem because he chose it over a Hummer that gets 12 mpg. (Or the Rav-4 owner getting 21mpg, but who drives 3 times as many miles as the Hummer every year.)

An excellent comment, Robert, thanks. 

You are quite right.  There are many vehicles that are in the same fuel economy neighborhood and I doubt that the Hummer is a top seller in that category.  You are also right that it’s not what vehicle you drive but what vehicle and for how many miles. 

(By the way, the Co2 calculator on Energyrace and elsewhere estimate your Co2 by asking you what vehicle you drive and how many miles you drive it.)

But the point I’d like to make about the Toyota Landcruiser, Chevrolet Suburban, Dodge Ram 2500, Ford F350, Hummer H2, and others, is that their weight is just large enough to get them an exemption from fuel economy rules (CAFE).  Unlike the guy getting 13 mpg in a luxury V-8 sedan, vehicles heavier than 8500 lbs are not subject to fuel economy testing and they don’t count against the car manufacturer’s fleet fuel mileage requirements. 

When Mercedes sells an S600 sedan which weighs 4895 pounds and gets 12/19 mpg, it has to sell a much more efficient vehicle to counter balance it, to keep it’s average fuel economy number up.  The big heavy vehicles are not subject to those rules.  So it’s much better for a car company to make a 8600 pound vehicle than it is to make a 7000 pound vehicle.

Did we intend to give car manufacturers an incentive to build extra heavy non-commercial vehicles?  They didn’t exist at the time the law was written.  I think the reason for the 8500 pound limit was to exempt heavy trucks used for commercial purposes and to keep farmers from being affected by the new law.

Excellent post Robert.

Your theory also applies to the big bad fuel guzzling Ferrari and Lamborghini V12s. I mean, come on, how many of them are there?

In actual fact Lamborghini posted their total CO2 emissions from all their 3000 sold V12 Murcielagos, and it was miniscule compared to the CO2 outputs of domestic made cars.

David, thanks for the post.  - Jay

Excellent post and comments. I agree with MAD DUCK

Good thoughts and I agree with your points.  The biggest hurdle is the acceptance that there is an environmental problem.  I think we’ve jumped that hurdle and now its on to the next step....action.  Taken one step at a time is a great way to start.