Why Does the USA Lag the Rest of the World in Fuel Economy?
The problems of the US auto manufacturing industry have been widely reported in recent weeks.The big surprise is that to many, this actually came as a surprise.
But is it really surprising that the industry is in a state of collapse considering they continue to make cars that are increasingly irrelevant to the needs of the rest of the world?
Is this progress, or is it too little too late?
According to a recent report the fleet average for Europe was 34.4 mpg in 2007. Putting Europeans practically 14 years ahead of the game. Other major auto markets are similarly ahead.
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Price, or something else?
Of course, its been often repeated that the reason for this is price. If fuel is cheap, why care about how much you use. Why invest in new technology, and why look for smarter solutions?
A forum debate on this topic last year provides some insight into why many US consumers believe that they need inefficient vehicles, which is perhaps the ultimate reason why the US auto industry has fallen so far behind?
The following arguments were put forward by people in order to defend the use of large gas guzzling vehicles in the US as opposed to the smaller more efficient cars used by most of the rest of the world.
“We have bigger distances to travel in the US, therefore we need bigger cars with bigger engines so they last.”
The US is BIG, I agree. However surely this increases the need for better fuel consumption as the distances travelled are greater. Try as I might, I can’t find any correlation between the size of vehicle and its ability to travel long distances. Modern manufacturing techniques also mean that the engine is often the last part of the car to actually wear out.
“Cars in the US are safer than those in Europe, and the bigger my car is the safer I am.”
This is a fallacy. Although the US led the way in the 1960’s in increasing safety, they are currently well behind many other countries in terms of auto safety. In fact, if you compare improvements in road safety between the UK and the US between 1979 and 2002 ,the UK had achieved a drop of 46% whereas the US had only achieved a 16.2% reduction in road deaths.
As for vehicle size and safety, a 2003 study by the US Transportation Board reveals that the popular view that SUV’s and Pickups are safer is in fact false. The study also points out that the size, and more importantly, the weight of the vehicle has a significantly smaller effect on crash safety than the overall engineering quality. The average weight of a car in Europe is 1175 kg whereas in the US it is 2000 kg.
Of course if you crash a 2 tonne car into 1.2 tonne car the larger one has greater energy, and therefore is likely to cause more damage than if the reverse was true. However, this isn’t actually an argument for having larger heavier cars, but an argument for reducing weights across the board in order to make everyone safer.
“I need a huge pickup truck or SUV to carry all of my kids and my shopping.”
This argument is often linked to the supposed safety benefits of a large vehicle which we have seen to be false. It is also a practical issue. However, all over the world large families happily exist without the need to have massive vehicles in order to transport them all (children are small, after all). A modest size family car is easily capable of carrying two adults and three children along with a week or so of groceries - safely. Really, it can be done!
For most people the need to transport large or awkward objects is not part of their daily lives. It seems hard to justify using a large pickup weighing several tonnes in order to have the option of transporting a large load if the need arises. Why not make use of delivery services or roof racks?
“Cars in the US have to meet emissions standards that don’t apply to Europe. These standards prevent us from getting good fuel efficiency but keep our air clean.”
Vehicle emission standards is a complicated issue. Comparisons are difficult, because an emission standard in two countries may be based on two different test cycles and may vary in other respects. It is true that European emissions standards for diesel engines are less stringent than those in the US for oxides or nitrogen and particulates. However, the introduction of low sulphur diesel in Europe (still not widely available in the US) has led to the use of particle filters and other technology that all but eliminates these emissions.
California has the strictest emissions standards in the US. It is also home to the most polluted city in the country, Los Angeles. Surely, burning less fuel in the first place helps reduce pollution overall, particularly since this is the key to reducing CO2 emissions (something which several European countries place limits on in the form of additional vehicle taxes).
So is the United States a special case?
It does seem that the current difficulties faced by the US auto industry may be the catalyst for change, and the recent high fuel prices in the US may have led to a change in the way most North Americans view fuel efficiency. But US consumers still need to realise that change is possible, that it comes without penalty, and that it is necessary. Only then will the political will exist to make rapid changes.
Oil will run out, that is certain. Why not come to terms with that fact and start trying to find ways to conserve it as soon as possible? The US is not a special case in that respect. Oil will run out for all of us.
Image credt: Sam Felder at Flickr.com under Creative Commons license
Nothing surprises me about the mentality of the US citizen or US business, big is good, our country is big, our cars are big, our burgers are bigger,our children even bigger!
Now Bush bales that backward industry out again…. Nice thing to do on your way out George, let’s keep up the carbon levels!
Ford Motor Company designs and builds many excellent small cars in other parts of the world. But Americans did not want to buy them because the fuel tax and fuel price is much lower in the USA than in any other oil consuming country. Why blame the car companies for low fuel taxes and for trying to make cars people in each country will buy (when they have the money)? You should be lobbying for higher fuel taxes so other taxes such as taxes on income from our work can be reduced.
Ford Motor Company does not build many excellent cars in other parts of the world or any where.If it did it wouldn’t need bailing out. Toyota, Hyundai and BMW don’t need bail outs. “Americans did not want to buy them beacuse fuel tax and price is much lower in the USA” so therefore if they purchased smaller cars, the taxes and fuel costs would be even lower. Have you actually read this article? Nobody is blaming car companies for low fuel taxes or for producing cars that people want. The article is not ‘lobbying’, it is asking questions and putting a point of view across. With regard to higher fuel taxes so income tax can be reduced, most people drive to work, so increasing fuel tax will reduce their overall income. Therefore income taxes would need to come down dramatically and before the application of increasing fuel tax.
Additional problems not mentioned in the article are that the motor car is one aspect of the ‘American Dream’ it is a status symbol. The US also has an extremely proud tradition of producing cars (and rightly so) that cannot simply be changed overnight.
Kids ‘cruise’ for hours at a time. People race, I understand that NASCAR is in fact the biggest spectator sport in the US above US Football and Baseball (an American informed me of this).My point is that consumption will always exist regardless of price of fuel, look at cigarettes in the UK - over $11 a packet, but the numbers of smokers have not significantly dropped. The only thing to do is to keep raising awareness, and help people ask themselves when and if it is neccesary to use their vehicle. It is neccessary to drive to work, fair enough, use it. Is it neccessary to drive the kids to school - no - c’mon, if Forrest Gump and Spiderman can take the bus…
Sorry, and just one other thing. When are plastic polythene bags gonna stop being produced? And who actually makes those things anyway?
Let’s face it, big engine, lots of throaty vroom vroom, kick in the back acceleration, big comfortable seats. We would all like more of that, given the chance. In most economies, fuel is so highly taxed that we have to aspire to more modest machinery. The US has chosen to keep fuel taxes low and the citizens choose to indulge in these fuel guzzling monsters. Why not?
Few individuals acting alone can save the planet, no matter how hard they try. Only governments can impose the disciplines that are necessary to make sure that all citizens abide by a reasonable set of rules that will help to reduce pollution and greenhouse gas.
And, plasitc bags? Same applies. You can’t buy anything that isn’t wrapped in one. Ban them, and they will magically disappear. We just have to accept a disciplinarian style of government rather like the Chinese. On the other hand, is that what we want?
WTF! Am I the last man on the planet that was alive in the 80’s!? Chevy sprint, ford fiesta, FORD MUSTANG, pinto, dodge rampage, chevy citation! C’mon PEOPLE! Every one of those vehicles can EASILY get over 35MPG, and the crazy part is that american list is just off the top of my head, its hundreds of cars longer worldwide! My next door neighbor has two 70 mpg Chevy sprints. I am a proud owner of a 55mpg metro(Which seats my FAT family of 5 just fine). My father owns a 1955 Chrysler Winsor nassau with over 300 horsepower and it gets 28, ITS GIANT TOO!!! My mother owns an 88′ honda civic that gets 40mpg. Its completely insane all this “emissions reduction” and “noise reduction” crap that we let them put on the cars, reducing the efficiency of of the engine as a whole and weighing down the vehicle by hundreds of LBS! Less gas burned, less emissions… ITS THAT SIMPLE. American auto teaming up with foreign oil, a match made in hell. Even foreign auto manufacturers should be ashamed! These solid metal celtic knots that we call engines these days are impossible to work on and WASTE FUEL! So many Americans any more are afraid of even look under the hood of their car, let alone work on it! Its GROSS LAZINESS! This is the result. American auto’s dont sell. Thats really all there is to it, if our cars were good they would sell… YOu know what cars sell alot more often??? USED CARS. So stop getting rid of your old cars and stop buying new ones, at least until they realise wat type of cars people ACTUALLY want. Every day the car graveyard next to me grows bigger, I glean it for what parts I can, but I cry seeing the dreamcars of my childhood being destroyed in lieu of of these new “aerodynamic” bubble cars, that despite their lowered windresistance and size, still cant get 25 mpg. Even the finest luxury vehicles of the 50’s 60’s 70’s and 80’s got GREAT gas mileage in comparison to the Absolute garbage that is being produced these days. The idea that good fuel economy has to be a sacrifice of performance is a complete fabrication advocated by auto manufacturers and oil companies WORLDWIDE. ITS A SCHEME!
Because, Americans like bitching about gas prices. If we all got 50 mpg we would have less to bitch about, and that would be unAmerican.