BLOG POST
By Siddiq Khan, Senior Researcher
Toyota, an industry leader in hybrid technology for two decades, is the only major automaker to lose ground on fuel economy in recent years. And with the Trump administration poised to roll back fuel efficiency standards, Toyota may face less pressure to pick up its pace.
So Toyota previously posted one of the industry’s best miles per gallon (mpg) averages for its fleet. It benefitted from selling more than 10 million hybrids worldwide. That’s since launching its signature Prius in 1997. Today’s most fuel-efficient Prius gets 56 mpg.
As I’ve written before:
We Americans drive an average of 10,000 miles per year, per person (passengers included). Unfortunately, most of our cars are not very efficient.
The U.S. has the worst fuel efficiency of any country producing cars. Most of our SUV vehicles get around 20 miles per gallon, So that means that each mile driven produces one pound of carbon that’s pumped into the atmosphere.
That will add up to 10,000 pounds of carbon per year. So for every 5 mpg better fuel efficiency your car gets, you cut your carbon output by 300 pounds.
Clearly, reducing the number of miles you drive every year greatly increases your fuel efficiency.
Planning is the key to reducing your car trips.
Here are some tips:
Plan your week in advance so that you can combine errands.
Ask everyone in your household to participate, and combine trips.
Leave off doing an errand until you have another errand in the same area.
Never make a special trip if you can avoid it.
However and still, with robust truck sales, Toyota’s fleet mpg actually decreased from 2012-2017.
That’s according to the US Protection Agency’s (EPA) new Automotive Trends Report. In contrast, prodded by stricter US fuel economy standards for 2012-2016 vehicles. Furthermore, it reported on the other 12 foreign and domestic manufacturers. Plus their fleet mpg averages during the same five-year period.
Finally and The result: Cuts in carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to climate change and the resulting harm to human health!
Finally and to continue reading the blog post. visit: http://www2.aceee.org/
Source: ACEEE, aceee.org
