The Feds today proposed that "all pickups must get 35.5 mpg by 2016."

Reality?

Or a pipe dream?

Trucks will have to get better mpg, U.S. says - U.S. news - Environment - msnbc.com

 

Yeah real nice huh? I wish those BEEEEEEPin people would stay out of our business! Gotta love big government huh? I swear they want us driving Smart cars and Pruis's! What will they go after next!?

 

Your Doughnuts and the contents of your fridge

 

The link didn't work for me.

That would never happen, though-whether the gov't wants it or not. You could pick 10 2000 something Corollas out of a mall parking lot and they wouldn't average that.

My F250 gets 18 unloaded and my Outback gets 28. When gas went up the first time, it forced me to be smarter about driving more efficiently. I basically made one trip to town per week instead of three. Behavior is easier to change than technology.

After another try, it did work. In the article it said that 35.5mpg is for all the new vehicles-SUV's, trucks, and cars.

 

From the article

It's not just pickups, but the average of all cars, pickups and SUVs in the manufacturers fleet.

I don't think it's a realistic goal.

 

It IS a realistic goal, but it's based on some assumptions that may NOT be:

One of the things that will have to happen is that Americans will have to break their addiction to behemoth vehicles that weigh 7000 lbs and have engines with displacements measuring in Gallons.

However, I think there's beginning to be a sea-change in attitudes, (at least in cities) that says that maybe having such huge vehicles isn't a good idea; at least folks are willing to consider the idea, whereas 10 years ago they weren't.

Trucks will have to go on a diet, and will HAVE to drop 1000-2000 lbs curb weight. The flip side is that the manufacturers will have to actually acknowledge that there IS a legitimate market for small pickups. What's funny is that the only market that the major manufacturers do NOT offer a small FWD pickup is, you guessed it, the US.

Engines will have to be downsized. We as a cusotmer base are going to HAVE to get over the horsepower wars. I mean, REALLY.... Do we really NEED 400+ HP in a light-duty pickup? (for reference, that Freightliner up there in the Avatar? 470HP).

Ford's EcoBoost engine lineup is showing some real promise. Only time will tell if it's actually able to deliver on it's promises.

The hardest market to convince will be the Farm Belt; you'll have to pry our big honkin' Pickup Trucks out of our cold dead hands.

(me personally? No, I don't NEED a 1-ton truck. But the only way I could get a diesel engine was to buy one. Are you listening, Ford?????)

-blaine

 

I think that by 2016 35mpg can be a reality, every year diesel manufactures have been making headway in mpg, look at the new 6.7L for example. When the truck was first introduced some testers were able to squeeze almost 30 mpg out of that engine, a far cry from the 18 on a good day going down hill in our '99 7.3L. Granted that 30mpg for the normal driver who likes to hear the engine run isnt realistic but low 20's is reasonable i think.
--http://www.thefordstory.com/green/journalists-squeeze-2011-ford-super-duty%C2%AE-for-impressive-fuel-economy/

as to the comment; "We as a cusotmer base are going to HAVE to get over the horsepower wars. I mean, REALLY.... Do we really NEED 400+ HP in a light-duty pickup? (for reference, that Freightliner up there in the Avatar? 470HP"
the horsepower in a heavy duty truck isnt what makes it what it is, just for refrence i looked up the specs for a C-15 Caterpillar...
--435-625 horsepower
--1550-2050lb-ft torque
that torque number is what gets it done for the big trucks.

--http://www.performancediesels.co.nz/catalog/resources/File/Cat%20C15%20Specs.pdf

i dont believe that better mpg needs to make horsepower suffer, again with the new 6.7L ford has increased the mpg while also bumping the horsepower to almost 400 and torque to almost 800 lb-ft so is it really that unrealistic that we by 2016 could see a 500 horsepower 900 lb-ft torque 35 mpg diesel? i dont believe it is. and no, we dont NEED 400 horsepower but lets face it... we WANT 400+ horsepower and why not have the best of both worlds if its possible?

 

My guess is they will either continue to exempt 3/4 ton and above pick ups, or we will all get a new tow/haul button that will add around 300 hp. There's no way a truck meant to tow 15,000 lbs on a daily basis will get 35 mpg and still be a good tow vehicle. Of course a 3 cylinder diesel in a Ranger should get some pretty impressive mpg's and still offer more power than a little 4 banger.

Ford has been going the wrong way in the MPG department ever since the Powerstroke was introduced. The IDI got better MPG's than the Turbo 7.3. The Super Duty got worse mpg's than the OBS with single shots, the 6.0 got worse than the 7.3. The 6.4 started off with absolutely pathetic numbers, but each generation has added HP.

The 6.7 is the first motor in a long time to reverse the direction of mpg trends, but it's still a far cry from getting double what your 7.3 gets.

 

i've had 6.9 with 5 speeds 7.3 idi with 5 speeds and 7.3 powerstrokes with both autos and sticks.my early 03 6.0 is better than any of my previous trucks.mileage and performance .it's my baby.187,000 and driving lke new.

 

Great post!

As a Brit now living in the USA I was perplexed that I wasn't able to buy a small commercial vehicle with a 2-2.5 liter Diesel engine which will deliver 45-50 MPG for light duty. My previous vehicle was a Ford Escort (Car derived van) with a 1.8 Liter IDI that gave me 44 MPG. It was more than able to haul all my equipment plus a full set of timber ladders. It was a tad underpowered in terms of acceleration but I was happy to live with that compared to the petrol gussling comparatives that spent more time at the pump than on the highway!

The significant factor that forces manufacturers to produce better fuel efficient vehicles is the price of fuel. In the UK, Diesel is the equivalent of approximately $10 a gallon. The average US price is $3.Big difference. This means, at the end of the day it all boils down to economics!

Nothing focuses the mind of a vehicle manufacturer more than the need to produce a fuel efficient vehicle when the government is putting tax on fuel.

The writing is on the wall. Legislation is what will force manufacturers to produce better fuel efficient vehicles and at the end of the day its us who will pay more dollars for less HP.

 

I think one of the major reasons for the reduced fuel economy is stricter emissions standards. I agree that more horsepower would typically decrease fuel economy, but they have been making these engines more efficient with increased power using improvements in technology. I guess what I'm saying is that its not just the increased horsepower that is causing the reduced fuel economy. Just my thoughts.

 

You're correct. The 6.0 came about because the 7.3 couldn't meet the emissions requirements. The 6.4 replaced the 6.0 for the same reason. That's in addition to the increased HP from each generation. Since I don't see them relaxing emissions requirements to meet the new fuel economy standards, I left that part out of the equation.

Look at the bright side. Maybe we'll finally get around to that switching to the metric system they told me about when I was in elementary school and the 35.5 is really km so it's only 22 mpg we have to hit.

 

Not everyone is gonna change. And Manufactures are not gonna drop weight because the guys who do Tow Heavy do not want a 5000 lbs truck for pulling 20k. The Likely prospect will be that manufactures will produce smaller cars that offer Higher MPG and bring the fleet average up or past the mandate by the government. Its cheaper and easier then trying to work around the physics of a 7000 lbs plus truck that makes 350-400 hp get more MPG's.




Exactly Look at the TDI Jetta, A limited Number are offered each year. To my knowlege it is the only small car offered with a Diesel in the US. I want one! But they are hard to find when I have money, I seem to only see them when I dont have Cash LOL.

 

Both of these is true... but keep in mind this is the FIRST diesel FORD not INTERNATIONAL/NAVISTAR has built to put into these trucks... IH was building them for THEIR applications and ford was buying them. Now Ford is purpose building the engines with their own technology making it easier to get higher mpg with increased horsepower. Just look at the technological improvements from the 6.0 to the 6.4 to the 6.7 there is a huge difference in less than a decade. I really don't believe that it is unreasonable to see 35 mpg from a 400 horsepower diesel within 6 years. Technology advances every day, that's what Ford pays engineers for.

 

Remember the old Ford inline-6 diesels? Some even had turbos on them. My brother's F800 has one with a turbo, in fact. I never understood why Ford didn't put those in pickups and Broncos a long time ago. My dad's 40-foot boat had that Ford inline-6 diesel in it, that thing ran forever and burned almost no fuel. It was the Ford-Lehman marine conversion.