A federal panel that President Bush has said will help him decide whether and how much to increase fuel economy standards has recommended in a draft report that the government require automakers to improve the mileage of new vehicles.
The draft report also says significant improvements can
A federal panel that President Bush has said will help him decide whether and how much to increase fuel economy standards has recommended in a draft report that the government require automakers to improve the mileage of new vehicles.
The draft report also says significant improvements can be made using new engine technologies inexpensive enough to pay for themselves through savings on gasoline over the typical life of a vehicle.
The 13-member panel, appointed by the National Academy of Sciences, consists mainly of engineers and consultants who have worked for the auto and oil industries, along with some economists and retired oil executives. It does not include anyone from the environmental movement. Indeed, environmental and consumer groups have in recent months criticized the panel, fearing it would be biased toward the auto industry.
The government has not raised fuel economy standards significantly since 1984. Ford Motor, General Motors and DaimlerChrysler have all pledged to improve the mileage of their sport utility vehicles. And a House subcommittee voted last week for a small increase in fuel economy standards for sport utility vehicles, pickups and minivans.
But the federal panel argues that considerably greater improvements can be made without penalizing drivers financially, if the savings on gasoline are counted.
The report does not recommend specific improvements in miles per gallon. But it states among its findings that the fuel economy of new vehicles, especially sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks, could be raised by as much as 8 to 11 miles a gallon over the next 6 to 10 years, with the extra cost offset by the savings on gasoline over the typical 14-year life of the vehicle.
The report also takes aim at the way automakers have taken advantage of rules intended to encourage the use of ethanol. G.M., Ford and DaimlerChrysler are now producing close to a million vehicles that can burn either gasoline or nearly pure ethanol, so as to qualify for fuel-economy credits that allow these vehicles to count as though they achieved double or triple the fuel economy they actually produce.
Yet virtually none of these vehicles actually burn ethanol. Barely 1 in 1,000 service stations sell nearly pure ethanol and automakers have made little effort to tell consumers that they have bought vehicles that could burn nearly pure ethanol.
The report recommends that ''credits for dual-fuel vehicles should be eliminated, with a long enough lead time to limit adverse 