Changing fuel economy standards: a challenge for auto industry stakeholders

Jan. 1, 2020
The Center for Automotive Research will offer a look at fuel industry standards and how to meet them during a Dec. 5, 2012 breakfast briefing event at the Fairlane Center in Dearborn, Michigan.
Savings in fuel economy are one of the key drivers for product development in the automotive industry — for vehicles as a whole, and for components as well. With the 2025 Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) mandate to 54.5 mpg on the not-too-distant horizon, as well as a midterm review for 2017, the process of providing the federal government feedback on technologies is critical.

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The Center for Automotive Research, a nonprofit research organization based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, will offer a look at this process during a December 5, 2012 breakfast briefing event at the Fairlane Center in Dearborn, Michigan.

“Predicting the production readiness and cost of a plethora of fuel-saving technologies out to 2025 is a formidable task with inherent uncertainty. The mid-term review provides a critical safety net for the industry to gauge progress and evaluate the need for adjustments to the CAFE ruling,” says Jay Baron, CAR’s president and CEO. “To ensure that the government is well-informed on numerous technological options at the mid-term review and even beyond 2025, the knowledge-gathering process is rigorous and relies on the expertise of numerous stakeholders.”

The National Research Council (NRC) for the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has tasked a committee with assessing technologies and costs for improving fuel economy of light-duty vehicles. The committee has been charged with assessing costs, efficiency improvements and barriers to commercial deployment of technologies, and with making recommendations for improvements to CAFE. The project, launched in March 2012, is expected to take up to three years to complete.

A few members of the NRC team will participate in the CAR breakfast briefing which has been assembled to provide a snapshot into the process the NRC uses to meet this critical task; to provide the broader perspective on CAFE; and to look at how the auto industry will position itself to meet stringent fuel economy mandates. Since the assessment process is just underway, no comments made by participants represent the official findings of the committee.

Speakers include:

  • Dr. K. John Holmes, Associate Director, Board on Energy and Environmental Systems, The National Academies
  • Dr. David L. Greene, Corporate Fellow, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Research Professor of Economics at the University of Tennessee
  • John Viera, Director, Sustainability & Vehicle Environmental Matters, Ford Motor Company
  • Julie Becker, Vice President, Environmental Affairs, Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers

A panel discussion will follow the speakers’ formal remarks.

Engineers, business development directors, environmental and sustainability directors, and technology planners will find the briefing of particular interest. Those working in related areas such as technology developers and providers, and business planners will also find value in attending.

The briefing is one of a series CAR offers on relevant topics of interest to industry stakeholders, and begins at 8 a.m. To register, visit www.cargroup.org. Media representatives may attend at no charge, subject to approval by CAR.

The Center for Automotive Research is a nonprofit organization based in Ann Arbor, Mich. Its mission is to conduct research on significant issues related to the future direction of the global automotive industry, as well as organize and conduct forums of value to the automotive community. For more information: www.cargroup.org

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