John Siciliano of the Washington Examiner reports an interesting side effect of recent drops in gasoline prices.
The Obama administration’s fuel economy rules could backfire in a world dominated by cheap oil and gasoline, according to the Energy Department’s independent analysis wing.
The problem arises from a dramatic change in consumer behavior, an analysis by the Energy Information Administration said Tuesday. With low gasoline prices, driven by cheap prices for crude oil, the automakers are selling record numbers of pickup trucks, sport utility vehicles, vans and other larger passenger vehicles.
That means the fuel economy of vehicles being driven will become lower and more gasoline consumed.
If the trend persists, which many analysts say it will, it would move President Obama’s light-duty vehicle regulations in the opposite direction of their intended goal, according to the analysis.
“Even though fuel efficiency for light-duty trucks and passenger cars has increased because of fuel economy regulations, light-duty trucks have lower fuel efficiency on average than passenger cars,” the Energy Information Administration analysis says. “Over a longer period, the differences in fuel economy can increase gasoline consumption as trucks make up a higher percentage of the nation’s [light-duty vehicle] fleet.”
