Automakers, regulators, and environmentalists were sent scrambling to the negotiating table after President Barack Obama issued an executive order on Monday instructing the Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider California’s rules to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions from cars and trucks. The meetings will be a battle over numbers, and a whole lot more.
Germany offers a government discount of $3,280 on a new car bought by owners who scrap their old polluting cars. To jumpstart new car sales, the US Congress is considering a discount of $4,500 if drivers crush old gas-guzzlers and buy fuel-efficient new models.
While major carmakers have dragged their heels on delivering the next big breakthrough on fuel efficiency, the plug-in hybrid, a small group of California entrepreneurs and innovators have made it possible for consumers to convert existing hybrids into plug-in cars running mostly on electricity. Yet, later this week, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) is expected to adopt new regulations that could put many of those conversion companies out of business.
Last Wednesday, President-elect Barack Obama announced former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack as his choice to be the next Secretary of Agriculture. The appointment has fueled growing concern from ethanol critics, who worry that the Obama administration may expand subsidies to an industry that they feel has already received more than its fair share of generosity from Washington.
Nobody has questioned the importance of high gas prices to the rise of green cars, but one has to wonder: Just how many car shoppers out there are concerned enough about the environment that it factors into a purchase decision? According to a study by Kelley Blue Book's market research division, the answer is "quite a few."
The Environmental Protection Agency has released a report which sites an overall improvement in new car fuel efficiency from 20.6 miles per gallon in 2007 to a projected 20.8 miles per gallon for 2008 – a jump of .2 miles per gallon. A small step in the right direction.
As the current congress scrambles to pass an energy bill before its term expires at the end of the year, some parts of the House version of the legislation should be of note to green car enthusiasts.
If you've watched any cable news or read the editorial pages of a major newspaper in the past few months, you're likely to have come across advertisements energy baron T. Boone Pickens' plan to decrease America's dependency on foreign oil. One element of the plan is the promotion of a long existent but relatively unused automotive technology: engines powered by compressed natural gas.
The California Senate approved a bill over the weekend that is being hailed as the most far-reaching urban sprawl bill in the country. The legislation, which is supported by both the Natural Resources Defense Council and the state's largest home builders' lobby, would tie tens of billions of dollars to state and federal transportation funding based on compliance with efforts to reduce sprawl, and by extension, commutes.
The Management Briefing Seminars, held every August in a resort community five hours northwest of Detroit, got their start as a way for auto industry executives to get in a few rounds of golf on the company dime. Forty-three years later, it’s a mix of “Davos for auto execs” and the ultimate networking forum for the beleaguered leaders of America’s largest industry.
