April 28, 2012

The Search for the 100-MPG Car

By Dexter Wright
Since the 1970s, it has been the quest of the United States to achieve energy-independence.  To that end, President Jimmy Carter established the Department of Energy so that the federal government could write checks to companies like Solyndra -- companies that generate not power, but rather questions.  More recently, the grail quest has inspired the EPA and the Department of Transportation (DoT) to wave a magic wand and mandate corporate average fuel economy standards (CAFÉ standards) for vehicles at 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025 -- a mileage standard that not even a Harley-Davison motorcycle can achieve.   The plan as unveiled by the EPA and DoT is to have 11 million electric cars on the road by 2025.  The thought is that with 11 million "zero emission" cars on the road, the average efficiency will rise.  It probably comes as no surprise that there are major problems with this government pie-in-the-sky plan.  Let's start with the facts.  Recently...(Read Full Article)