Hybrid and Other Fuel Efficient Cars in America

Did you know that last year the Exxon Mobil Corp reported the biggest annual profit in the world on record in the history of making profits? That's AFTER wages, transportation, building rent, leases, and mortgages. Do you grasp how much money $40 billion is? Lets break it down; It's more than $75,000 per minute, $1,250 per second! In the time it takes to make ramen noodles, Exxon Mobil made more than $250,000.

CAFÉ (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) sets the standards for passenger cars. The company was started in the early 70's in response to the oil crisis in '73 and '74. CAFE set a goal to double the average standard for fuel economy by 1985. Although they fell short of that goal, it was a good goal and they actually tried to attain it. It was 1978 before CAFE got into full swing, however they started pulling in great numbers. In 1978 the average car fuel economy was 18 mpg. Not terrible, but certainly not great. A lot of cars still get this. From 1978 to 1980, it went up 2 mpg. From 1980 to 1982 it went up 4 mpg. And from1982 to 1985 it went up another 3.5 mpg. That's pretty impressive. Way to progress! This change was an average of 1.36 mpg better each year! But from 1985 to 2007, there's been no change. In over 22 years we reached an average of 0 mpg better. Somehow we've failed ourselves.

CAFÉ sets these wonderful standards for fuel economy, and they even set forth penalties for those who fail to meet the standards. Manufactures whose cars fail to meet CAFÉ standards are punishable by civil penalty of $5.50 per each tenth of a mpg under the target value times the total volume of vehicles manufactured for a given model year. This means for every gallon under the target they have to pay $55.00 x however many cars they manufactured in that model and year. Let's say that Ford has to hit 30mpg, and they make 10 million minivans that only reach a 29.9 mpg efficiency. It's only one tenth off of the target, and they will still have to pay $5.5 million in fines for that one-tenth deficit. From 1983 to 2004, U.S. manufacturers paid more than $618 million in civil penalties. Most European manufacturers regularly pay CAFÉ civil penalties of less than $1 million annually. Asian manufacturers have never paid a civil penalty. How about that?

In August 2007 a bill was passed related to CAFÉ and the unbelievable lack in fuel efficiency progress. The bill requires automakers to hit an average of 35 mpg for cars and 32 mpg for trucks by the year 2022. Car manufacturers have 15 years to make this goal- 15 years to achieve less than what was achieved within 7 years, 25 years ago!

Honda and Toyota both make cars in more countries than the USA. Both companies are Japanese and both have to meet a standard much higher than the one set in the USA. Japan and the EU already have a standard of 41 mpg and Honda and Toyota have no problem hitting this mark. The European Union has set a new standard of 49 mpg to be achieved by 2010. They have just over 1 year to accomplish what our country has set out to do in 15 years!

If Honda and Toyota can hit numbers like 41, and a proposed 49 mpg as an averagein Asia and Europe, why is America living in the miles per gallon dark ages?