Automakers raise concerns about 2025 fuel efficiency mandate at Auto Show Capitol Hill Summit
The challenge in the marketplace is really severe, said Chryslers director of regulatory affairs Reg Modlin about the 2025 fuel efficiency standard. The market has to pull it, it cant be forced. Modlin was speaking at the second panel of the National Journal Policy Summit on Affordable Mobility during the 2013 Auto Shows Public Policy Day, Jan. 30.
Toyotas Vice President of Technical and Regulatory Affairs Tom Stricker agreed that the standard poses quite a challenge, but said manufacturers committed to it in preference to the uncertainty of state-by-state fuel efficiency standards, reminiscent of the California Low Emission Vehicle program. There are only about 500,000 hybrids on the roads now, and 55 percent of them are Toyotas. They are a technology that consumers have accepted and will continue to accept, said Stricker.
Though there may be broad public agreement that the United States needs to lower emissions of the CO2 variety, consumers dont care about the policy when they buy a car, said Stricker.
Because of the difficulty of meeting the standard, the midterm review scheduled for 2017 will be crucial to ensure the goal is still viable, Stricker said.
Toyotas main thrust to meet the standard will be creating a more fuel-efficient internal combustion engine and more hybrids. Honda will concentrate on improved engine technology and improved road load (power consumption from features such as air conditioning and light), said Robert Bienenfeld, senior manager for environment and energy strategy for American Honda. Although newer technology in hybrids and plug-in electrics will be available after 2020, most changes will be evolutionary, he said.
For Chrysler, the question isnt technology, but consumer acceptance and cost, said Modlin. In 2020, we must ask, Are consumers buying the technology? Will they continue to? Theres no infrastructure for compressed natural gas or diesel, so those arent serious contenders currently.
Natural gas does have a future in the transportation marketplace, Stricker said, but its not yet clear what it is. Natural gas vehicles for fleets are one possibility, as is using natural gas to make hydrogen for fuel-cell vehicles.
What about a gas tax as a policy measure? The gas tax is incredibly regressive, said Hondas Bienenfeld. The first thing that happens when gas prices go up is that people downsize. Thats not a vote for new technology. Alternatively, said Stricker, when gas prices go up and GDP is strong, automakers invest more in advanced technology.
In the next 10 to 15 years, were going to see more clarity in what consumers want, said Bienenfeld.
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