Energy Demands
Vehicles
Overview
Vehicles include cars, motorcycles, SUVs, trucks, and ships. Airplanes are in a separate section.
Facts
Vehicles account for 19.7% of all carbon dioxide emissions in the United States. In May 2009 U.S. President Barack Obama announced stricter standards for fuel efficiency and carbon emissions for cars and trucks. Cars will need to have an average fuel economy of 39 mpg by 2016, while light trucks must have a fuel economy of 30 mpg. According to the White House, between 2012 and 2016, the new standard will save 1.8 billion barrels of oil and reduce carbon emissions by 900 million metric tons.
Source: "Obama Announces New fuel Standards"; Politico; available: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0509/22650.html
Source: "Annual Energy Outlook 2010", Energy Information Administration
Source: "U.S. orders stricter fuel goals for autos." Wall Street Journal, May 2009. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124266939482331283.html
Conservation initiatives, improvements to fuel efficiency, and the use of alternative fuels and new technologies could reduce fuel consumption, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and save money. For example, the average fuel economy of the five most popular hybrid automobiles in the U.S. is 40.8 miles per gallon (mpg), over double the 17.4 mpg of the average car on U.S. highways. In 15,000 miles of annual driving, those same hybrids will, on average, emit 4.7 tons of carbon dioxide, compared to 8.3 tons emitted by the average U.S. vehicle. Furthermore, gas mileage can be improved by over 3% just by keeping tires inflated to the proper pressure.
Source: Environmental Protection Agency; available: http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/findacar.htm
Source: Department of Transportation; available: http://www.bts.gov/publications/national_transportation_statistics/html/table_04_09.html
U.S. SUV sales fell sharply in 2008 and 2009, reflecting the economic downturn and pump prices of gasoline trending up. However, SUV sales rebounded moderately in 2010, posting slightly higher growth rates than small cars.
Source: Wall Street Journal: http://online.wsj.com/mdc/public/page/2_3022-autosales.html
Source: http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2010/07/large-suv-sales-surge-faster-than-small-cars.html
Young Americans are using vehicles less frequently than their parents, which helped to decrease the number of vehicles in the U.S. in 2009. However, the main driver behind the decline in vehicle numbers—the first since World War II—was the economic recession. Nevertheless, if the trend were to continue, the U.S. vehicle fleet would shrink by 10% by 2020
Source: "The Shrinking American Car Fleet." NY Times, January 2010: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/07/the-shrinking-american-car-fleet/
The average fuel economy of new vehicles could be as high as 39 miles per gallon in 2030, up from about 26 miles per gallon today. Unconventional vehicles, including hybrid technology vehicles, electric vehicles and other fuel-saving technology vehicles, are expected to account for nearly 50% of new vehicle sales by 2035. Hybrid vehicles will account for 25% of all new vehicle sales by 2035, up from only about 2% in 2009.
Source: "Annual Energy Outlook 2010"; Energy Information Administration
Source: MSNBC, quoted in: "Hybrid Car Sales Down With Price of Gas--Are Americans So Short-Sighted?" U.S. News and World Report; available: http://www.usnews.com/blogs/erbe/2009/04/21/hybrid-car-sales-down-with-price-of-gas--are-americans-so-short-sighted-.html
Source: http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/aeo/pdf/trend_3.pdf
Fully electric vehicles that are available today routinely get the equivalent of 100 miles per gallon and may be able to travel over 100 miles on a single charge, although driving ranges vary. Hybrid vehicles such as the Chevrolet Volt can get between 37 and 93 miles per gallon, depending on how they are driven. The newest electric vehicles can achieve 200 miles per gallon and can travel over 350 miles on a single charge.
Source: Wired; available: http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/01/1st-pre-product/
Source: http://www.caradvice.com.au/89483/audi-a2-electric-vehicle-sets-600km-single-charge-record/
Source: "Nissan’s Electric Leaf: How Far Can It Go?" Wall Street Journal, December 2010: http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2010/12/03/nissans-electric-leaf-how-far-can-it-go/?KEYWORDS=electric+vehicle
Source: "GM’s Volt to Get Three Mileage Ratings." Wall Street Journal, November 2010: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703572404575635301271458076.html?KEYWORDS=electric+vehicle+miles+per+gallon
The future of vehicle transportation includes a variety of solutions to reduce costs and pollution while accommodating growing mobility. Ideas include fully automated vehicles that run on tracks, defined corridors (cybercars) or dual-mode vehicles (traditional vehicles that can be driven manually in mixed traffic or run automatically in reserved areas or dedicated infrastructure).
Source: Masstransitmag.com
Changes in design and fuel sources will also have major impacts on the efficiency of new cars. Advanced composite and lightweight steel materials could nearly double the fuel efficiency of hybrid cars. In America, using electric cars that charge at night at off-peak rates could reduce the cost per mile by 75% compared with petrol. In the future, advanced diesel engines, petrol or diesel hybrid vehicles, and hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles will likely improve fuel economy by at least 50%. If in the future, electricity was generated to power all cars, the amount of emissions emitted from electricity production would only be about half of the emissions produced from the petrol-powered vehicles of today.
Source: "Plugging into the Future," The Economist, June 10, 2006; Pew Center on Global Climate Change