Evaluation of the representativeness of EPA fuel economy estimates

Technical Report · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1978

OSTI ID:6703878

Cackette, T

Energy conservation has become a major national commitment. An important element of this commitment is a national strategy to improve the fuel economy of the new car fleet through a regulatory program involving stringent fuel economy standards that each manufacturer must meet for its corporate sales-weighted fleet. To insure consumer cognizance of the fuel economy implications of the consumer's purchase decision, the Energy Policy and Conservation Act established a fuel economy labeling program whereby each new vehicle is posted with its expected fuel economy. The Keystone to this program is the Federal Test Procedure developed by EPA to quantify and regulate emissions reductions for environmental purposes. These same procedures are also utilized as the yardstick of fuel economy measurement. Recent suggestions that EPA fuel economy estimates significantly over-predict actual vehicle fuel economy prompted EPA to conduct a number of studies designed to explore the representativeness of the EPA methodology. The objective of this report is to summarize the results and conclusions of these studies.

• Research Organization: Environmental Protection Agency, Ann Arbor, MI (USA). Emission Control Technology Div.
• OSTI ID: 6703878
• Report Number(s): PB-80-183122
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
320203* -- Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization-- Transportation-- Land & Roadway
DYNAMOMETERS
ENERGY CONSUMPTION
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
EXHAUST GASES
FLUIDS
FUEL CONSUMPTION
FUEL ECONOMY
GASEOUS WASTES
GASES
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
PERFORMANCE TESTING
STANDARDS
TESTING
US EPA
US ORGANIZATIONS
VEHICLES
WASTES