The US administration is looking to come up with new automotive ratings that will be based on fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions. The Obama administration intends to provide a letter rating between A-D based on fuel economy and emission levels of automobiles.And this potential changeover seems to be in line with the prevailing automobile market trends.

With the advent of electric and hybrid vehicles in the commercial market space, the yardstick to compare different models of vehicles and cars is going to change for sure.

For the first time in the history of vehicle buying process, people have actually begun to realize the significance of terms like zero-emission technology, fuel mileage over a full fuel tanks vis-a-vis the fuel mileage on a fuel electric re-charge. The significance of these terms has made it important for automotive manufacturers to understand that the customer is demonstrating signs of becoming more and more educated and hence there is a demand to offer more information than what is already available.

You could consider this as an attempt by the consumer to make the right decision, given the fact that there is almost an euphoria like situation that has been built for electric vehicles.

Perhaps, the US administration does realize that the fuel-economy as a concept is in for an overhaul and it needs to incorporate the changing dynamics of fuel consumption to evolve a mechanism to rate vehicles based on fuel economy and their impact on the green environment cover.

As expected, the automotive manufacturers will have some concerns on these ratings because these ratings will qualify an automobile in 4 grades based on mileage and emissions and the choice for consumer will become more reliable, clear and transparent because the ratings will eventually be coming from the State.

Given the fact that this is just a proposal at this point of time, it remains to be seen if this will actually translate into action and a subsequent policy for all automobiles. You can expect to see some resistance from the automotive manufacturers against this proposal because the proposal intends to clear any ambiguity for a vehicle buyer. At the same time, it does aim to qualify automobiles against very clearly established norms.

If it does, then the automobile buyers of the US will definitely have an easier decision point at the time of buying new vehicles based on their fuel economy and emission levels. Take an example of mileage in the case of electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles. A Nissan Leaf will provide a mileage of 100 miles on a full electric re-charge. On a similar basis, Chevy Volt will offer a mileage of 40 miles on a full electric re-charge.

Coming to the emission levels, Nissan Leaf is a zero-emission car while other hybrid vehicles will not be zero-emission for sure.

With fuel economy being largely dependent on vehicle manufacturers’ claims at this point of time, the need of a universal fuel economy and emission related rating is a move in the right direction for the future.

While it will definitely take any sort of ambiguity out of the picture for now, it will actually establish a standard that could be further improved upon with the changing dynamics of the automotive industry.

Author Bio: Rob May is a fuel strategist who creates custom fuel card strategies for businesses. He suggests using fleet cards as a way to manage fleet fuel expenses more effectively and intelligently.

Category: Automotive
Keywords: fuel economy, vehicle grading, emission grading of vehicles, fuel economy of electric vehicles, fuel