Challenges for this policy Although there are many obvious benefits for adopting the new CAFE standards for 2025, the policy still faces many challenges which threaten its implementation and execution. Of these problems, political partisanship, American automotive culture, and loopholes within the policy itself pose problems when considering the effective adoption of this policy.
Political partisanship Unfortunately, raising the CAFE standards for all automakers has become entangled in partisan politics, and is threatened in the face of the new administration change. Although officially adopted by the EPA, the current Trump Administration has already set its sights on dismantling this policy. President Trump said in a campaign speech that …show more content…
When calculating CAFE, vehicles are split into two groups: passenger cars and light trucks. Since the CAFE standards for light trucks are less stringent, automakers can make vehicles such as pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles without having to meet the CAFE rating for smaller passenger vehicles. American automotive culture, additionally, has always placed an emphasis on the idea that “bigger is better.” The ubiquitousness of larger pickups such as the Ford F-150 have found a cult-like gathering in the United States that is found nowhere else in the world. Similarly, recent marketing strategies have placed an emphasis on the usefulness of sport utility vehicles, which sales are outnumbering smaller more traditional and fuel efficient sedans. Larger and larger vehicles have become the norm in America, with smaller vehicles such as kei cars in Japan are nonexistent. Battling against the consumer demand for large vehicles will present a large challenge when trying to meet the CAFE standard in 2025, since automakers will need to find ways to overcome the demands for less efficient light trucks and sport utility …show more content…
The way that credits for fuel economy work when calculating CAFE for the EPA also takes into consideration energy saving technologies not directly connected to fuel savings via the drivetrain. For instance, automakers get credits for using energy saving lighting, environmentally friendly coolant for the air conditioning, or solar panels to power the cooling system in cars. While not directly correlated with fuel savings, these credits allow for manufacturers to get credits for both CO2 measurements and fuel mileage credits. This presents a problem in the real world because the vehicles produced do not have the same fuel economy as what is calculated for the
Political partisanship Unfortunately, raising the CAFE standards for all automakers has become entangled in partisan politics, and is threatened in the face of the new administration change. Although officially adopted by the EPA, the current Trump Administration has already set its sights on dismantling this policy. President Trump said in a campaign speech that …show more content…
When calculating CAFE, vehicles are split into two groups: passenger cars and light trucks. Since the CAFE standards for light trucks are less stringent, automakers can make vehicles such as pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles without having to meet the CAFE rating for smaller passenger vehicles. American automotive culture, additionally, has always placed an emphasis on the idea that “bigger is better.” The ubiquitousness of larger pickups such as the Ford F-150 have found a cult-like gathering in the United States that is found nowhere else in the world. Similarly, recent marketing strategies have placed an emphasis on the usefulness of sport utility vehicles, which sales are outnumbering smaller more traditional and fuel efficient sedans. Larger and larger vehicles have become the norm in America, with smaller vehicles such as kei cars in Japan are nonexistent. Battling against the consumer demand for large vehicles will present a large challenge when trying to meet the CAFE standard in 2025, since automakers will need to find ways to overcome the demands for less efficient light trucks and sport utility …show more content…
The way that credits for fuel economy work when calculating CAFE for the EPA also takes into consideration energy saving technologies not directly connected to fuel savings via the drivetrain. For instance, automakers get credits for using energy saving lighting, environmentally friendly coolant for the air conditioning, or solar panels to power the cooling system in cars. While not directly correlated with fuel savings, these credits allow for manufacturers to get credits for both CO2 measurements and fuel mileage credits. This presents a problem in the real world because the vehicles produced do not have the same fuel economy as what is calculated for the