Miles-per-Gallon

There's a miles-per-gallon standard of 35 MPG by the year 2020. Then I
also see a standard of 35.5 MPG by the year 2016. Next, I see a
proposal of 56.5 MPG by the year 2025.

Then I see an article that says that 35.5 MPG in the year 2016 is
really a fleet average of 27 MPG. And next the article says that 56.5
MPG in the year 2025 is really just a fleet average of 41 MPG.

So I'll make a new MPG proposal and standard:

In the year 2015 the minimum MPG will be 31/43 .

Why ? Well, the 2012 VW Passat TDI for the U.S. market gets 31/43 MPG.
And that's a midsize car since it has a wheelbase of 110.4" and a
weight of 3397 pounds. The trick ? Well, it's a turbo-diesel that
doesn't make a lot of horsepower but that does make a lot of torque.
And torque makes the car easy to drive.

Now turbo-diesel is not required but just one example of 31/43 MPG in
a midsize car.

But if 31/43 MPG is set as a minimum doesn't that set a maximum
performance level ? And the answer is no since weight can be reduced
where higher performance is wanted and priced. Of course engine size
is held as the weight is reduced.

Also, MPG can be better than the minimum by reducing both weight and
engine size.

On Jul 14, 6:34*pm, PolicySpy > wrote:
> There's a miles-per-gallon standard of 35 MPG by the year 2020. Then I
> also see a standard of 35.5 MPG by the year 2016. Next, I see a
> proposal of 56.5 MPG by the year 2025.
>
> Then I see an article that says that 35.5 MPG in the year 2016 is
> really a fleet average of 27 MPG. And next the article says that 56.5
> MPG in the year 2025 is really just a fleet average of 41 MPG.
>
> So I'll make a new MPG proposal and standard:
>
> In the year 2015 the minimum MPG will be 31/43 .
>
> Why ? Well, the 2012 VW Passat TDI for the U.S. market gets 31/43 MPG.
> And that's a midsize car since it has a wheelbase of 110.4" and a
> weight of 3397 pounds. The trick ? Well, it's a turbo-diesel that
> doesn't make a lot of horsepower but that does make a lot of torque.
> And torque makes the car easy to drive.
>
> Now turbo-diesel is not required but just one example of 31/43 MPG in
> a midsize car.
>
> But if 31/43 MPG is set as a minimum doesn't that set a maximum
> performance level ? And the answer is no since weight can be reduced
> where higher performance is wanted and priced. Of course engine size
> is held as the weight is reduced.
>
> Also, MPG can be better than the minimum by reducing both weight and
> engine size.

Now the farther reaching proposal is revised down to 54.5 MPG in the
year 2025.

But the proposal is also that fuel mileage should increase by 5% each
year from 2017 to 2025.

Problems ?

Well, fuel mileage can't be increased sequentially because at some
point a different kind of car has to be built to reach the current
step. But then the previous cars to the new car are probably just
rough band-aid solutions to get to the easier to reach steps. Early
adopters get the poor cars while holdouts get the good cars.

But this is a fleet average so the situation might push for a
percentage increase in smaller cars each year instead of push for more
efficient cars.

Now I'll repeat my previous point that the 2012 U.S. VW Passat TDI has
a wheelbase of 110.4", has a weight of 3397 pounds, has mild
horsepower, has very good torque, and gets 31/43 MPG.

On 07/27/2011 10:18 PM, PolicySpy wrote:
> Now I'll repeat my previous point that the 2012 U.S. VW Passat TDI has
> a wheelbase of 110.4", has a weight of 3397 pounds, has mild
> horsepower, has very good torque, and gets 31/43 MPG.
Another option is social change. Like Superior Forestry, which arranges
tree planting contracts for pulp paper plantations, state & national
forests, and private landowners all over No America... and does this in
a conventional modern office with a staff of 20, but the building sits
on an Ozark ridge at Tilly AR with a satellite dish and a fiber optic
cable strung out into the boonies.

These folks dont waste gas fighting urban traffic, but drive home on the
same kind of steep twisty two lane blacktop we see in new car ads- only
its prolly a pickup to a home in the woods just five minits away.

In like manner, the I-540 corridor from Fayetteville North to the MO
border is a strip city- industrial parks, office buildings, and malls,
one after the other. But no urban hub. No urban crime, traffic jams or
air pollution. 15 miles of blacktop on either side of the freeway with
no stop/go traffic burning fuel. Within range of electric vehicles.

I've noticed also how many transnationals have invested in mid range
towns of 10,000-50,000; the commute from one side of town to the other
is only a mile or two, and could often be done on a bike. They are
drawing, and creating the newest and fastest growing census bureau
demographic:'X-urb", families out on the fringe in hobby farms that
provide the exercise needed to keep fit.

I'm ten miles out of Clinton AR, at the end of the grid, but still get
DSL. We NEVER had a 'housing bust'.