Feds Propose New Fuel-Economy Labels for Cars and Trucks, Seek Public Input

Feds Propose New Fuel-Economy Labels for Cars and Trucks, Seek Public Input

By Scott Doggett August 30, 2010

By Scott Doggett, Contributing Editor

With the Chevy Volt extended-range electric vehicle and Nissan Leaf battery-electric vehicle soon to appear in U.S. showrooms, federal authorities today proposed new fuel-efficiency window stickers intended to provide consumers with straightforward energy and environmental comparisons across all types of cars and trucks starting with the 2012 model year.

The Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation  are proposing two new label designs for public comment, which can be submitted online over the next 60 days. One label design prominently features a letter grade to communicate the vehicle's fuel economy and greenhouse-gas emissions.

That design would also provide consumers with an estimate of the expected fuel cost savings over five years compared to an average gasoline-powered vehicle of the same model year.

The other proposed label design retains the current sticker's focus on miles per gallon and annual fuel costs, while new comparison information on fuel economy and emissions.

Both proposed label designs expand on the content of the current label by including new information on fuel consumption, tailpipe carbon-dioxide emissions and smog-related emissions.

And, both label designs would display annual fuel-cost information. However, only the grade-based design would contain an annual cost of fuel compared with the average vehicle.

Both new window stickers offer a scan code, that can be read using a smart phone, that allows access to more detailed information. It is designed to assist shoppers while in a dealer's showroom.

For EVs such as the Leaf and Mitsubishi i-MiEV and for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles such as the Volt, the agencies are proposing to show energy use by translating electricity consumption into miles-per-gallon equivalent. The proposed label designs for EVs also include energy use expressed in terms of kilowatt-hours per 100 miles.

That said, in a conference call with reporters today EPA Assistant Administrator Gina McCarthy stated the agency still has not certified either the Leaf or the Volt as regards their mileage despite the fact both will go on sale during what remains of this year.

"At this point we have not certified either of those vehicles so we don't have a sense of what grade they would get or what we would be specifically saying at this point, but obviously we are working with those companies to make sure that the labels they come out with are reflective of appropriate greenhouse-gas and fuel economy measures," she said.

Although neither EPA nor DOT officials disclosed a preference, the grade-based label design clearly seemed to be of greater interest to them and of the two was the one that garnered nearly all of the attention during the conference call.

McCarthy said the letter grade reflects the combined city and highway ratings for fuel economy as well as tailpipe greenhouse-gas emissions. She emphasized that it does not take into account "upstream" emissions; for example, the pollution caused in the generation of electricity for EVs and plug-in hybrids.

Knowing that would be a sore point with many people, she said the EPA and DOT are proposing to develop a Website to provide consumers with additional information on non-tailpipe emissions, while taking comment on other approaches to provide consumer information about lifecycle emissions across various vehicle fuels and technologies.

The proposed grading scale ranges from an A+ to a D and includes pluses and minuses for each letter grade. (There would be no failing grade, because only vehicles that meet the Clean Air Act requirements are allowed to be sold in the U.S.)

The grading scale is designed to adjust periodically to keep pace with the greenhouse-gas performance improvements that EPA and DOT officials expect to see in the coming years.

"Based on current data, the A+ grade will go to electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids will generally get an A grade, and the very best hybrid vehicles will get an A-," said McCarthy, who lead the conference call.

Ferrari Earns a 'D'

The lowest grades will go to the greatest greenhouse-gas-emitting vehicles, she said, and they tend to be the very expensive, high-performance automobiles. The Ferrari 612 Scaglietti would receive a D grade, for instance.

A sampling of others: The Nissan Altima Hybrid, the Toyota Corolla with a 1.6-liter engine and manual transmission, and the Volkswagen Golf would all receive a B+; the Chevy Corvette with a 6.2-liter engine and a manual transmission and the Chevy Silverado 1500 pickup would earn Cs.

One of the more interesting changes between the proposed grade label design and the current label design, which has been around for about 30 years, is that the grades extend across all vehicles, not simply classes of vehicles.

So, for example, under the proposed grading system consumers wouldn't see only how SUVs compare to one another. The SUVs, and other thirstier truck-based vehicles, would be compared with the full range of models.

That's going to cast SUVs, pickups and other types of vehicles that don't tend to get good gas mileage in poor light and will no doubt generate strong feedback from their makers.

"The idea of the grade is to give consumers a single metric that combine both greenhouse gases and fuel economy into a metric that we think people will recognize, but we fully will have the information underlying those grades available to consumers when these labels are in place," McCarthy said.

All of the labels will be available online, she said.

For more on the subject, visit Edmunds' AutoObserver.com and Edmunds' InsideLine.com.

Scott Doggett:  is an AutoObserver.com Associate Editor.