The Environmental Protection Agency recently released their automotive trends report detailing the current state of the automotive industry with a focus on the environment and how new vehicles are impacting it. The report is extensive, and covers many different aspects of emissions, fuel economy, and even vehicle horsepower. Here are some of the details:
1. CO2 emissions are down, fuel economy is up. From the point at which such emissions were first recorded, there is a trend downward of CO2 emissions from vehicles. The most current recorded levels are from model year 2020 vehicles that show an average emissions of only 349 g/ml. As a reference comparison, levels from the mid seventies were at almost 700 g/ml, therefore showing a significant improvement. Fuel economy is at 25.4 mpg, compared to 12.5 mph in the seventies. This shows a significant improvement of the average, and is something that most consumers can relate to.
2. Market is shifting away from cars to SUV’s. Also evident is the low sales volumes of cars, with the overall market shifting towards SUV’s. It is evident that new pickup truck sales are also lowering fleet wide emissions benefits, due to their larger size.
3. Horsepower and vehicle size are up. New car average horsepower is in the mid 200’s and vehicle sizes are trending to larger and more luxurious.
4. Most manufacturers are improving emissions, but not all. There are some manufacturers that have not improved emissions much in the past 5 years.
5. New technologies are being implemented into new vehicles. Blind spot detection, vehicle cameras, and smart cruise control are just a few of the new technologies being used in new vehicles.
6. All major manufacturers are within compliance with the new greenhouse gas standards. This is excellent news, as major manufacturers will pave the way for all manufacturers in maintaining proper greenhouse gas levels.
7. Most large manufacturers had to purchase greenhouse gas credits to maintain compliance. Unfortunately, production levels are still too high for many manufacturers to maintain compliance.
8. There remains a large bank of credits for use. Hopefully manufacturers will rely less and less on credits, however there are still many credits left for use.
For more information, please visit the EPA’s website below: