Expressing regard on the mounting call for energy security, a key Senate panel on yesterday recommended for increasing fuel efficiency measures for all kinds of vehicles in the US. The bill tabled by Daniel Inouye and Ted Stevens, the democratic and republic senators from Hawaii and Alaska respectively, is the first one to cover vehicles like tractor trailers and large trucks.
The proposed law aims at increasing fuel efficiency in the US without harming the domestic auto industry. It targets to achieve fleet fuel economy on a national scale. The bill suggests bringing down the average fuel efficiency to 35 miles per gallon by 2020 for passenger cars, sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks from the present requirement of about 25 mpg.
To comply with the projected 40 percent higher average by 2020, the transport sector needs to illustrate an improvement of 4 percent a year in fuel effectiveness. Medium duty and heavy duty trucks, required in trucking and construction, would also require to follow fuel economy by increasing energy efficiency 4 percent a year commencing in 2011. Giving a breather to the auto industry, the bill gives the Transportation Department power to set flexible standards if the automobile sector cannot meet the criteria.
The plan is also welcomed by environmentalist lobby as it provides an alternative to the proposal by Detroit based automakers bid to sell flexible fuel vehicles capable of operating on 85 percent ethanol blended fuel by 2009. The environmentalists are opposing the later on the ground that few people in fact, has flex fuel vehicles running on E85 ethanol by that time.
Via: MSN
