New fuel economy standards to add $2,600 to the average vehicle’s price, EPA says

EPA officials believe U.S. automakers can meet the U.S. government’s 2025 corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards in an affordable way by expanding the use of existing technologies.

A senion engineer for the Environmental Protection Agency said the organization believes 2025 model-year vehicles will be $2,600 more expensive than 2011 vehicles if automakers choose the „most cost effective” way to meeting CAFE standards. That would be done by improving internal combustion engines and hybrids that use gasoline. The U.S. government wants automakers to achieve a fleet average of 54.5 mpg by 2025, although several credits, incentives and exceptions will be available.

EPA’s senior engineer Jeff Alson said the agency expects real-world average fuel economy in 2025 to be about 40 mpg, up from about 20 mpg in 2010 and a projected 27 mpg in 2016. “A good general rule of thumb is that real-world fuel economy is about 20% lower than the lab numbers,” Alson was quoted as saying by the Detroit Free Press at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute’s Automotive Research Conference on fuel economy.

According to EPA forecasts, most people will still be using gasoline by 2025, with more than 90 percent of 2025 model-year vehicles expected to be powered by turbocharged, direct-injection engines that still use gasoline.