Early adopters are beginning to plug into the new electric-car lifestyle, as reported by Herald Writer Bill Sheets on Sunday. All-electric Nissan Leafs are showing up in a few Snohomish County driveways, and public charging sta
tions are being installed along major highways.
While the technology matures, though, practical limitations figure to keep a drag on the pace of growth for plug-in vehicles. The relatively short range of all-electric cars — the Leaf reportedly can go 70 to 130 miles on a full charge, depending on driving conditions — and the high cost of fast charging stations mean the gasoline engine isn’t going away soon.
So while we’ll be cheering continued progress in electric-car development, we also support strong national standards for fuel efficiency. It’s still the best strategy for curbing America’s over-dependency on petroleum, a habit that continues to pose serious environmental and national-security problems.
The Obama administration is negotiating with automakers over average fuel-efficiency standards for the 2017-2025 model years. (The current target for 2016 is 34.1 miles per gallon across the entire fleet.) Environmentalists have argued for a 62 mpg standard in 2025, which after figuring in real-world driving conditions, would mean a mileage rating of 50 mpg on the average vehicle’s sticker — the same as today’s Toyota Prius gas/electric hybrid.
The administration is reportedly considering a 56.2 mpg standard in 2025, which would require a 5 percent increase in fuel economy each year starting in 2017. In response to opposition by some automakers and lawmakers from Michigan, the administration recently agreed to hold light trucks and SUVs to a 3.5 percent increases each year from 2017 to 2021.
Yes, those are dramatic gains, and they’ll likely raise the upfront cost of a car by $2,100 or more. But the savings in fuel costs will add up quickly, making it a good financial deal for consumers.
Might there be fewer light-truck and SUV models from which to choose? Yes. But having far fewer U.S. dollars going to foreign oil producers, and making the nation’s economy less vulnerable to supply interruptions and price volatility, produces a pretty attractive upside.
Stronger standards could also help the U.S. auto industry regain a technological edge by sparking greater innovation in the production of clean, fuel-efficient cars. And the reduction in pollution and greenhouse-gas emissions would be enormous.
Electric cars will become more ubiquitous in the coming years, but most of the cars sold here in 2025 will still be powered, at least in part, by gasoline. Making them as efficient as reasonably possible must remain a vital national priority.
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