Can Car Makers get to 35 MPG Average?

Most people are aware that Congress has mandated that the EPA increase Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) requirements to 35 miles per gallon.  This has caused great concern from car aficionados who are all predicting the end of fun behind the wheel of a car.

 

Most people look at 35 mpg and preach that the only way to get there is to make smaller, lighter, less powerful vehicles.  I am starting to wonder if that is really the case.  Take, for example, the Toyota Camry Hybrid.  While it doesn't get 35 mpg average yet, it is getting relatively close.  Future improvements could easily make this car get 35 mpg without significant changes.

 

Combine the Camry Hybrid with the Prius, a modified Corolla, and some more efficient trucks, and 35 mpg doesn't look that absurd.  More expensive, perhaps, but that is a different topic.

 

Of course, few car companies are as close as Toyota to 35 mpg.  But at least it shows that the technology is not entirely science fiction.

 

Now for the real humdinger to be thrown into the CAFE calculations - plug-in vehicles.  I use the term "plug-in" because the issue is the same for plug-in hybrids as well as full electric vehicles.  How do you calculate a "mpg" number for something that doesn't use  the "g" part of it?

 

To show how this confusion is already happening, there are people who are claiming to get 200 mpg out of a modified Prius.  What are they doing?  They are increasing the battery storage capacity and charging the batteries at their house from the electric grid.  They then can drive considerable distances without having the engine even start (as long as they stay under the maximum electric speed of the Prius).  When the engine does finally start, they are almost back home.  They have therefore generated a 200 mpg number.

 

But is it really 200 mpg?  No.  They aren't including the power used to charge the batteries in their calculations.

 

And if the car is entirely electric, you would get infinite miles per gallon.  Just try to plug that into your CAFE average!

 

So, perhaps a more realistic calculation should be based upon CO2 per mile.  Of course, the CO2 produced to generate a kW of electricity varies between regions of the country, so this number would have to be specified by the EPA.  But at least we would not be trying to average apples and oranges!