Minorities and fuel-economy standards: Differences in EPA-test vs in-use fuel economy
A vehicle's in-use or on-the-road fuel economy often differs substantially from the miles-per-gallon estimates developed by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as part of its emissions certification program. As a result, the certification values are routinely adjusted by a set of correction factors so that the resulting estimates will better reflect in-use experience. Our analysis investigated how well the correction factors replicated the shortfall experience of all household vehicles on the road in 1985 and of those vehicles held by different population groups. Using data from the Residential Transportation Energy Consumption Survey conducted by the Energy Information Administration of the US Department of Energy, our analysis showed that fleetwide, the shortfall is larger than the EPA correction factors, and that light trucks are experiencing larger shortfalls than automobiles. Controlling for vehicle age and size class, shortfalls did not appear to differ by population group. However, African-American households appeared to select vehicles with systematically lower fuel economy (both EPA-test and on-the-road) within individual vehicle age and size class categories.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Lab., IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-31109-ENG-38
- OSTI ID:
- 5749732
- Report Number(s):
- ANL/CP-75456; CONF-9106190-3; ON: DE92009709
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Socioeconomic energy research and analysis conference, Baltimore, MD (United States), 27-28 Jun 1991
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Differences between EPA-test and in-use fuel economy: Are the correction factors correct?
Differences between EPA-test and in-use fuel economy: Are the correction factors correct
Related Subjects
29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
MINORITY GROUPS
FUEL CONSUMPTION
US EPA
STANDARDS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
DATA ANALYSIS
ROAD TRANSPORT
SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS
TRUCKS
ENERGY CONSUMPTION
EVALUATION
HUMAN POPULATIONS
INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS
LAND TRANSPORT
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
POPULATIONS
TRANSPORT
US ORGANIZATIONS
VEHICLES
320200* - Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization- Transportation
290202 - Energy Planning & Policy- Sociology- (1992-)