State Emissions Mandate, CAFE at Odds in Washington

OEMs, Regulators and Environmentalists open the Society of Automotive Engineers' Government/Industry meeting in Washington by treading on what will become a familiar battleground this year - whether new federal fuel-economy standards or state-level tailpipe emissions regulations proposed by California will control greenhouse gases and promote U.S. energy independence.

California's standard requires vehicles to achieve a fleet average of about 36 mpg (6.1 L/100 km) by 2016 and 43 mpg (5.4 L/100 km) by 2020. The new federal CAFE standard signed into law last year sets a national fuel-economy target of 35 mpg (6.7 L/100 km) by 2020, based on a fleet average for all light vehicles.

California's effort to trim 60% to 80% of carbon-dioxide emissions from the transportation sector by 2050 finds an unlikely ally in Keith Cole, director-legislative and regulatory affairs for General Motors Corp. Cole says if reducing greenhouse-gas emissions is the goal, improving vehicle efficiency will do little to move the needle.

“The CAFE metric of a mile-per-gallon, or the efficiency of burning liquid fuels such as gasoline, is increasingly out of touch with the technologies you would choose if you selected the carbon-centric approach of looking at what is the best way to reduce tons of CO2 emitted,” he says. “The environment does not care about miles per gallon of gasoline consumption. It cares about tons of CO2.”

Cole goes so far as to express a desire to see an auto industry regulated by California emissions standards.

As a means to hitting the 80% reduction, he cites second-generation, cellulosic biofuels in flex-fuel vehicles; extended-range electric vehicles, such as the Chevrolet Volt, charged by a clean electric grid; and fuel-cell vehicles running on hydrogen.

“These technologies are all directionally correct,” he says, noting GM is working on all three areas and also revealing GM's support for the framework of a cap-and-trade proposal included in a climate-change bill from Sens. Joe Lieberman (ID-CT) and John Warner (R-VA).

Cap-and-trade legislation would reduce greenhouse gases on an industrial scale by capping total annual emissions and letting the market assign a monetary value to any shortfall through trading. Credits can be exchanged between businesses or bought and sold in international markets at the prevailing market price.

California is fighting a decision from the Environmental Protection Agency that last year struck down the state's authority to regulate tailpipe emissions under regulation AB 1493.