A Weblog of Centrist Voices in American Politics
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A Weblog of Centrist Voices in American Politics | |
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September 02, 2007Great-mileage EU Diesel Cars Aren't Making it to Our ShoresWhy aren't good-mileage EU diesel cars making it to the U.S.? This seems to me like a more important, much easier, and more immediately fast and practical way of making cars with better gas mileage on the streets than higher CAFE standards. What gives? Not only have they been shown to work in Europe, but the bugs've already been worked out. Some diesels available in Europe, but not here include VW's Polo Blue Motion and Lupo 3L, Honda's 3L, and a ton of others. Posted by Jon Kay at September 2, 2007 02:50 AMComments
It’s not just that "certifying the new engine for the U.S. market is too expensive at this point", there are other limits. March 2007; Scientific American Magazine had an article on clean diesels that explained how emission laws stacked the deck against diesel. Diesels are more efficient than gas and most of Europe uses high mileage diesels that aren’t available here because they wouldn’t meet emission standards. No link because the article is subscription only, sorry. We put severe limits on the emmissions of NOx which causes smog and bad things for our lungs, but the better mileage means less CO2 and other deadly gasses. Choose your own poison. But I still agree that there are probably better ways that we could be handling it here than just jacking up CAFE standards to unreasonable levels. I understand that Washington likes that idea better because it puts the burden on the auto industry and not the consumers to change but legislating change rarely is best way to do anything. I do some work with the AAM and unless consumers demand changes there are better ways to go. Some of the solutions where cars and trucks are in different categories do make some sense. But I agree with Jon that innovation is better than regulation. Posted by: Steve at September 3, 2007 05:44 PMthat's fine and dandy but how about getting rid of the tax breaks that encourage the use of SUV's and other large cars at taxpayer's expense in the first place so that that we have a REAL market instead of an artificial one created to benefit GM, Ford and others(SUVs get higher profit margins). As far as diesel problems, in California's central valley the particulate pollution is killing us, literally. High ozone levels from NOx are of more immediate concern than CO2. NOx damages health and damages crops. BTW, it's no stretch to get 35mpg out of a car so higher CAFE standards could make a significant dent in CO2 production without needing any significant technological input. For crying out loud I have a 1990 Ford Escort with 195K on it and it still gets more than 35 mpg on the freeway and generally 30 for the combo of town and freeway. The gas cars exist that use less gas, the technlogy exists. The "will" is lacking and the government input is AWOL (as usual). The reluctance regarding higher CAFE standards is just more dodge and delay from shrinking American auto companies that still don't have a clue. good discussion on diesel vs gas right here Posted by: Marcus at September 5, 2007 06:53 PM |
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