Every couple of months a real blog or web-site links to us and we get a visitor spike for a couple of days. Yesterday, instapundit picked up on last week's gas price post and we ended up with 1420 visitors on a Sunday--double our regular Sunday crowd. Whenever that happens I feel pressure the next day to post something good, witty, umm...intelligent. So if you're a new visitor to the site, welcome, enjoy, come back often so we can enjoy the fame and glory that comes from your visit. And just so you know, I don't perform well under pressure so don't expect much from today's post. On with the post...
Last week the EPA put out a proposal to formalize the rules for what types of cars can receive a High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) exemption for low-emissions or high fuel efficiency. Many states with HOV lanes--traffic lanes that require two or more vehicle occupants--allow exemptions for high fuel efficiency vehicles (like hybrids or AFV's). But state's have trouble with enforcement because it's tough for the police to read the small word 'hybrid' when the car whizzes by at 75 mph.
Here's the proposed rule:
To be considered energy efficient, a vehicle would have to be:
- A dedicated alternative fuel vehicle, or
- A hybrid vehicle achieving 50 percent or better in-city fuel economy or 25 percent or better in combined city/highway fuel economy compared to a similar gasoline fueled vehicle.
The obvious question is relative to what? Here's what the proposed rule says:
The vehicle fuel economy comparison is proposed to be based on a hybrid-to-gasoline vehicle comparison. Using this methodology, we are proposing to compare hybrid-electric vehicles to their gasoline counterparts (i.e. those of the same or similar make and model type such as comparing the Ford Escape Hybrid to the Ford Escape gasoline model) to determine the percent difference in fuel economy between the hybrid and the gasoline model. This method only compares hybrid vehicles to gasoline vehicles. Gasoline, diesel, and flexible-fuel vehicles would be ineligible for HOV exemption under this proposal. For hybrid vehicles that do not have a similar gasoline counterpart, such as the Toyota Prius, EPA is proposing that the comparison be based on gasoline vehicles within the same comparable class as used in EPA’s annual Fuel Economy Guide, which is jointly published by EPA and DOE. The median unadjusted fuel economy of all the gasoline vehicles in that class would be determined, and then compared against the hybrid's fuel economy.
If a car meets these conditions it is eligible for some kind of sticker or something certifying it better than your car and states then have the option of allowing their better car to drive in the HOV lanes.
So far, so good. Sounds reasonable. But what are the costs and benefits of the program? Luckily the EPA figured those out for us too:
There are no foreseen adverse economic or air quality impacts associated with this proposal. This proposal is expected to further the intent of Congress to provide non-financial incentives to increase the purchase of hybrids and other fuel efficient vehicles.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the original intent of HOV lanes to provide an economic incentive--decreased travel time and congestion--to drivers and passengers who voluntarily choose to reduce the number of cars on the road? The new fuel efficiency designation and HOV exemption seems to be at slight odds with this goal as it does not reduce the number of cars on the road and has the potential to increase congestion in HOV lanes. I'm not sure it will, as I'm pretty sure HOV lanes have been an underutilized miserable economic failure in most locations, but claiming there are 'no foreseen adverse economic impacts' seem a bit overstated.. Maybe 'no significant adverse economic impacts'? Probably nitpicky. Like I said, I don't perform well under pressure.
