{"id":118971,"date":"2017-09-08T07:38:29","date_gmt":"2017-09-08T11:38:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=118971"},"modified":"2017-09-08T00:38:40","modified_gmt":"2017-09-08T04:38:40","slug":"national-average-fuel-economy-drops-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2017\/09\/national-average-fuel-economy-drops-again\/","title":{"rendered":"National Average Fuel Economy Drops Again"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Consumers preferences for large SUVs continues to take its toll on the national fuel economy average.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The\u00a0average\u00a0fuel\u00a0economy\u00a0or window-sticker figures of\u00a0new\u00a0vehicles\u00a0sold\u00a0in\u00a0the\u00a0U.S.\u00a0in\u00a0August was 25.3\u00a0mpg \u2014 down 0.1 miles per gallon from July as consumers continued to prefer trucks and utility vehicles over traditional passenger cars, according to the monthly survey by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0value for August is up 5.2\u00a0mpg\u00a0since\u00a0October\u00a02007,\u00a0the\u00a0first month of UMTRI’s monitoring, but\u00a0still\u00a0down 0.2\u00a0mpg\u00a0from\u00a0the\u00a0peak of 25.5\u00a0mpg\u00a0reached\u00a0in\u00a0August 2014, U-M researchers Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle<\/p>\n

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Subscribe Now!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

University of Michigan’s separate Eco-Driving Index or EDI, which presents an estimate of\u00a0the average monthly emissions of greenhouse gases generated by an individual U.S. driver, worsened to 0.83\u00a0in\u00a0June 2017, up from 0.82 in May 2017.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The\u00a0lower\u00a0the\u00a0value,\u00a0the\u00a0better and the current EDI indicates that\u00a0the\u00a0average\u00a0new-vehicle\u00a0driver produced 17% lower emissions\u00a0in\u00a0June 2017 than\u00a0in\u00a0October\u00a02007, but 5% higher emissions than\u00a0the\u00a0record low reached\u00a0in November\u00a02013 just as the shift in consumer preference from cars to truck and utility vehicles was taking old.<\/p>\n

(New vehicle fuel-economy averages improve in July. For the story, <\/em>Click Here<\/a><\/span>.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
People are spending more at the pump as they continue to buy less fuel-efficient vehicles.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Meanwhile, the Trump administration is seeking comments on whether to loosen the fuel-economy standards rather than retaining the Obama administration’s tighter rules, which call for raising the average of fuel-economy of each automakers’ total fleet reaches 50 mpg by the 2025. Individual vehicle segments, such as truck and utility vehicles would have lower standards.<\/p>\n

Automakers complained that the Obama administration failed to allow for a mid-term technical review that would allow automakers and outside experts to offer testimony on whether the 50-mpg rule was feasible.<\/p>\n

As currently written, the rules have pushed carmakers to offer more batter-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, which can easily meet the 2025 requirement. Environmentalist have countered the efforts of the Trump administration to loosen the fuel economy standards.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother evaluation of the successful clean car program is a political ploy and a waste of taxpayer resources,” noted Rhea Suh, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council.<\/p>\n

(<\/em>Click Here<\/a><\/span>\u00a0for more about GM and Ford sales in China.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

“President Trump\u2019s push to roll back these standards is deeply unpopular with Americans. That\u2019s because the standards are saving drivers money at the pump, creating good paying jobs, and cutting pollution in our communities,” she said.<\/p>\n

Suh added before a hearing this week that any “honest review”\u00a0of the program that\u2019s based on science will reaffirm that the standards are achievable and should remain in place.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Hurricane Harvey has pushed gasoline prices in the U.S. to their highest level in two years. AAA also said this week gasoline prices have probably been unusually low for the past two years.<\/p>\n

(To see more about the 20 models disappearing in 2018,\u00a0<\/em>Click Here<\/a><\/span>.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

However, it is too soon to say whether the surge in fuel prices, coupled with sight of gas lines and shuttered fuel pumps in Florida as Hurricane Irma approached U.S. shores, will have an impact on consumer behavior.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The average fuel economy of new vehicles sold in the U.S. in August was 25.3 mpg \u2014 down 0.1 miles per gallon from July. See why at TheDetroitBureau.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20009,"featured_media":103659,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"make":[],"post-state":[],"category_old":[151],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118971"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20009"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118971\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118971"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=118971"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=118971"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=118971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}