Obama Administration has been diligently working on making the auto-industry more fuel-efficient. President Obama has been pursuing the very policy since 2009 and a new set of fuel efficiency standards was due to arrive sometime this year. Now, it is here.
The new fuel efficiency standards seek to enhance the mileage of cars and light-duty trucks to upto 54.5 miles per gallon by the year 2025. While that may sound like an ambitious aim, the auto industry is already on the way. By 2016, the aim is to hit the 34.1 mpg target and then continue the progress.
The new fuel standards are very significant for the auto industry as well as the U.S. economy overall. This was well-pronounced in President Obama’s speech, “These fuel standards represent the single most important step we’ve ever taken to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. This historic agreement builds on the progress we’ve already made to save families money at the pump and cut our oil consumption. By the middle of the next decade our cars will get nearly 55 miles per gallon, almost double what they get today. It’ll strengthen our nation’s energy security, it’s good for middle class families and it will help create an economy built to last.”
The reduced fuel consumption is also hailed as a very significant step towards a more greener ecosystem where cars consume less amounts of fuel and results in lesser pollution.
While more fuel-efficient vehicles will definitely bring down the oil consumption of the U.S. and may result in reducing it by as much as 12 billion barrels, the eagerness of the Obama administration has been criticized by many.
The critics tend to see this fast-paced improvements in fuel efficiency as the government’s surrender to environmental radicals. It is argued that the likes of 54.5 mpg fuel efficiency standards will push the manufacturers to focus on a single aspect of innovation. And that this, in turn, will end up with consumers have fewer choices when buying cars and manufacturers concentrating less on the overall safety of the vehicle.
Do let us know what are your thoughts on the new fuel efficiency standards – drop a comment below.
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