What's he smoking?....more than cigs I guess. So the American auto industry is bankrupt with the exception of Ford and you're telling me somehow they're supposed to come up with a light duty truck that gets 35MPG by 2016?...in 8 years? Unless the car makers have been holding back, this may be the nail in the coffin or we'll all end up driving one of those tiny golf cart trucks in order to meet the 35MPG standard. Maybe there are some details to the bill I'm missing but if it's really 35MPG for things like F150s I don't see how this is going to happen.

The Story:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090519/...bama_emissions

We'll see...maybe this is the new plan for the government to take over and control the auto manufacturers - once they fail to meet their new rules.

 

probably will end up making a few that are all electric until they need charged which then the gas engine will run to charge it. my guess anyway. i thought you were gonna be talking about a friend that got 35mpg with his f150. i had a guy from work with a dodge ram crew cab 4x4 lifted with the 4.7L V8 which we all know are gas hoggs anyway, with big tires. tells me he got 29mpg on the highway. hes very lucky if he got 19...why do people do that? i told him my f150 gets about 21 or 22 highway with a cold air intake and my last one(an 04 heritage)got 22.5 average, not highway, with the same intake. then he says he got 29. why do people have to try to one-up everybody all the time? and even worse is when they make something up because they cant...

 

35mpg in a truck is kinda pushing it. but dont forget about how much ford trucks weigh compared to its competitors. if they lose about 500lbs they'll probably gain another 2mpg at least. then theres hybrids. twin turbo 4 bangers. then gears in the axles and how many gears the trannies have. theres quite a bit that can be done to meet the requirements.

 

dude a twin turbo 4 banger is gonna guzzle like a **** too with 4k lbs of steel holding it down at a minimum.

 

In an internal combustion engine?...NO! At least 80% of their energy is wasted in heat. I believe we have and have had the technology for awhile. The fly is cost and selling it to the consumer. Simple.

We have PC and other computers that do billions of calculations per second. All of our military strike fighters can do things unheard of and we enjoy that supremacy. All of the space technology. New nanocircuits and nano technology. Don't tell me we can't make cars that get 35MPG plus all of the time.

When Americans get sick and tired enough of high gas prices, we say we are but we're NOT, we will DEMAND that technology. I firmly believe we should have had this up & coming 35 years ago so right NOW it would be tried and true with bugs worked at at a cost we can easily afford. Henry Ford said it in his time that one day we would NEED an alternative energy instead of gas & oil. I have to agree with some terrorists that say Americans are fat and lazy.

You can look at it this way...we have not made REAL progress in cancer cures. How many cancer drug companies, cancer specialists and other medical institutions do you think would be flat broke if we had a positive sure fire cure to cancer? Think about that.

 

Just make sure you buy your new truck in 2015 then and dont worry about the power reduction

 

You can't just snap your fingers and create new technology. It's expensive and can take time.

You really, really want cars that get better mileage and don't cost an arm & a leg?

Eliminate emissions and safety requirements. A huge part of the cost and weight of your vehicle is associated with the safety and emissions equipment.

But since were are not going to make cars less safe and we can't allow higher emissions, those regulations are here to stay.

Creating a fleet of vehicles that averages 35.5 mpg by 2016, is affordable and are in demand by the consumer will be a huge if not impossible challenge.

By 2020, there will be one American car company, and it will be taxpayer owned. Perhaps the CEO will be former President Obama.

 

Why can I see anything bigger than a Ranger not being made after 2016. I dont know about you guys but when I had my Ranger and S-10 it was ok with just me in the cab but you throw another person in it and its not at all comfortable. I think when my F350 is paid off I will just put the montly payment towards up keep and rebuilding it when necessary.

 

I'd love to have a 35 MPG F150 but like I said...unless the auto manufacturers have been hiding this secret technology from us for all these years, I don't see how you can get 20 MPG more in a truck that averages 15 MPG (my truck) in a short 8 years time.

 

If it does come true, the government will loose billions in taxes. I'm sure fuel taxes will be going up to offset any increases in mileage.

 

I believe the manufacturer has to have an average of 35 MPG throughout all of their vehicles. If they make some that average 50MPG then the F150 getting 25 is covered.

 

Volkswagen has a 58MPG clean diesel engine for their cars. Averaging 35MPG on an entire fleet of vehicles won't be that hard.

 

35mpg for cars

25mpg for trucks

 

So you're saying it's an average, not a 35 MPG rule for each vehicle?

 

I was going on what's been discussed here, so it may or may not be true. If it is true, an average of 35MPG wouldn't be hard to do. If it's 35MPG for every single vehicle produced, that's a different story entirely.