New government labels are coming for cars, and they could clearly send some vehicles straight to the head of the class, while others wind up just a grade away from detention.
These new labels, developed by the U.S. Departments of Transportation and Environmental Protection, are designed to make it clearer for consumers to determine where a car stands on the spectra of fuel economy, carbon emissions and energy use.
The idea is to help people compare vehicles across types. That can be tricky under the current system, which displays a car’s EPA-figured gas mileage on the retail sticker sheet plastered to the side window.
One new label under consideration grades the vehicle for energy use and emissions.
Once, that label was sufficient because a person was comparing various models that were all gasoline-powered. The new auto landscape, though, pits traditional combustion engine cars against hybrids and electrics, with various permutations. In fact, it’s difficult to envision how the new labels will even account for all the energy sources driving personal transportation, some of which are unknowable.
Take a new electric car that’s charged via wind power in a home where the occupants buy green power versus one that’s recharged by electricity made by burning coal: There’s no way to factor those variables in ahead of time. (By the way, an electric car charged on coal is still a greener proposition than burning gasoline in a car, for those who are wondering). No label can sort that all out. But no matter. The idea behind the labels is that each type of vehicle would get it’s own label — so there would be a version for gasoline burning cars; another for hybrids etc.
A second label under consideration leaves the basic label design intact, but adds details.
The EPA reports that two proposed stickers are under “primary” consideration. Possible label No. 1 would slap a big letter grade, an “A” or a “B” or a “C” on a vehicle based on its eco-sense and gas mileage and projected annual energy costs.
Yes, a vehicle can get a “D” but it has to get about 10 mpg to earn that distinction. Presumably no car making it to market would rate a failing grade.
Label contender No. 2 doesn’t change so much from the existing label, developed 30 some years ago, but does add scales that help you compare the car to other types of vehicles in that class on gas mileage and greenhouse gas emissions.
Label possibility No. 3, is a sort of hybrid (truly) of the other two labels.
You can see details and send comments about your favorite or least favorite label at the EPA website.
Tags: automobile mileage, Department of Transportation, electric cars, Environmental Protection Agency, gas mileage, hybrid cars
