Auto Analyst Baum, NRDC Dub 2012 "The Year of the Green Car," Debunk Attacks on High-MPG Vehicles

PRESS RELEASE

Separating Fact From Fiction: Model Year and Calendar Year 2012 Are Best Ever For Greenest Vehicles

Washington, D.C. – October 31, 2012 – It's time to give unfairly maligned green cars the respect they earned in a major way in 2012, according to auto analyst Alan L. Baum and Natural Resources Defense Council senior vehicles analyst Luke Tonachel.

"The facts are in: consumers now have more opportunities and they are indeed buying green, fuel-efficient vehicles across the market spectrum, from small cars to midsize cars, minivans, CUVs/SUVs, and pickups," Alan L. Baum, principal of Baum & Associates, said. "They are buying cleaner vehicles that use less gas to go just as far, helping reduce America's dependence on oil while cleaning up our air. This is an important shift that moves us toward meeting the new federal standards to increase fuel economy to the equivalent of 54.5 mpg for cars and light-duty trucks by Model Year 2025."

Based on a new analysis released by Baum & Associates, Baum and Tonachel deflated the recent attacks in news media stories on green cars by citing the following facts:

Model year 2012 fuel efficiency for new vehicles hit an all-time high. The sales-weighted average fuel economy of new passenger vehicles for model year 2012 was 23.6 MPG, up more than 1 MPG from the previous record high of 22.5 MPG set in 2011. This was the single biggest one-year increase in MPG in the past five years. Calendar year-to-date 2012 fuel efficiency is even higher: an average of 23.8 MPG through September. (Fuel economy data is derived from the research of Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle (University of Michigan) at http://www.umich.edu/%7Eumtriswt/EDI_sales-weighted-mpg.html.)

Higher average fuel efficiency for model year 2012 is a good thing for the American auto industry, rather than a reflection of falling sales. Auto sales for the 2012 model year reached 14.1 million units, an increase of more than 10 percent (1.7 million) from the previous model year. In the recent past, major increases in fleet fuel efficiency were generally marked by rapid decreases in vehicle sales. For example, the three-year period from 1980 to 1982 saw increases of 3.3, 1.3 and 0.6 MPG respectively, but vehicle sales declined by 2.5 million, 750,000, and 820,000, respectively. Similarly, over the two-year period from 2007 to 2009, fleet fuel efficiency jumped 1.8 MPG, but annual vehicle sales dropped by over 5.7 million. The uncoupling of rising average MPG and falling auto sales in model year 2012 was due in large part to much wider availability of vehicles with higher fuel economy.

The number of high-MPG vehicles available to consumers is rising rapidly. Popular vehicle nameplates with improved efficiency more than doubled from model year 2009 (28) to model year 2013 (61). Fewer than a third (17) of the model year 2013 vehicles with higher MPG are compacts or subcompacts, contrary to the assumption made by many that the only high MPG cars are "small cars."

Hybrids and plug-in electric car sales are on track to top half a million units for the first time in a calendar year (2012) and a model year (2013). This strong performance directly debunks the linked (and equally mistaken) notions that (1) consumers don't want higher MPG vehicles and (2) there is no demand for the high-end technology that powers the highest MPG-vehicles.
Alan L. Baum, principal, Baum & Associates, said: "The just-ended 2012 model year has resulted in a record high in fuel efficiency for new vehicles. These results indicate that, contrary to some news accounts, consumers are voting with their pocketbooks and going beyond their intent to buy high MPG vehicles to making actual purchases. Furthermore, they don't need to make compromises given the choices that are being offered. In reality, this was a banner year for the greenest cars and 2013 is shaping up to be even brighter. Plug-in electric vehicle sales are still a small niche but the number of new product offerings coming and the growing availability of these vehicles suggest that growth will continue."

Luke Tonachel, senior vehicles analyst, Natural Resources Defense Council, said: "Those in news media stories who seek to obscure the fact that 2012 is 'The Year of the Green Car' are ignoring what the facts show about consumer demand for high MPG vehicles, the transformative impact of the 54.5 MPG federal fuel efficiency standards, and the major strides made by automakers to embrace and develop MPG-boosting technology advances. Those, according to press reports, who bash green cars fail to recognize that the U.S. auto marketplace has been remade in the last few years and that the old days of gas-guzzling, low MPG vehicles are, thankfully, a thing of the increasingly distant past."

The Baum analysis is available online at http://www.baum-assoc.com/.

Leasing a Green Vehicle Gets You a Rebate in Colorado

A bill signed in Colorado will now allow lessees to claim any tax credits for hybrid cars and electric vehicles, rather than the lessor.

Previously, the state had allowed banks or finance companies to choose whether claim the credits themselves on lease vehicles, or to pass the credits on to the lessee.

Predictably, this resulted in plenty of finance companies hanging onto the credit themselves, preventing customers from realising the benefits.

TimesCall reports that the state's income tax credit for buying what it describes as "innovative motor vehicles" will now benefit lease consumers equally.

"This legislation will benefit consumers across the state who have chosen to be both fiscally and environmentally responsible", explained Senate President Brandon Shaffer. "I look forward to knowing this credit is going back into the pockets of Colorado families."

Like many tax-based credit systems, the state's formula for calculating credits is apparently complex, but Rep. Jonathan Singer, whose bill now guarantees the credits, says the credit usually runs to around $2,500.

If you've been holding out for an electric vehicle, hybrid or alt-fuel vehicle, there's never been a better time to lease in Colorado.


Source: Green Car Reports

Want to Become Greener? Move Closer to Work and Save Cash as Well

We get a lot of questions about greener or more fuel-efficient cars. But we rarely get questions about how to drive less.

A cheerful little post and infographic by the delightfully named Mr. Money Mustache highlights the true cost of commuting to jobs that are no longer within walking or biking distance, as they were for many Americans until 1940 or so.

Neatly summarized on LifeHacker, each extra mile you have to drive to work costs you $795 a year.

That's using a driving cost of 34 cents per mile (the IRS actually allows you 51 cents) and a value of $25 an hour for the time you spend behind the wheel that could you be doing other things, like reading to your kids.

Apply that $795 to your mortgage, and you could afford a house that's $15,900 pricier (assuming a 5-percent interest rate).

Got a 20-mile round-trip commute? That's far from unusual these days. Buy a house within walking or biking distance of your job, or that you can reach via mass transit, and you could afford as much as $300,000 more by moving closer.

We say "up to" because, of course, walking and biking save you gasoline, but still cost you time--although those activities, and even just driving less, may reduce your waistline--as does mass transit.

Erwin Wurm's Fat Car

Gasoline prices do end up impacting where people choose to live, with some analysts making dire predictions that far-flung suburbs will become slums if gas prices soar and stay high. We think that's unlikely, since the impact is muted as cars become steadily more fuel-efficient under new fuel economy rules.

The higher your car's gas mileage, the less money you'll save on fueling up. Doing your commute in a 50-mpg Toyota Prius hybrid will cost you roughly half as much per extra mile as a 25-mpg mid-size sedan.

To us, though, it's the time spent in often grim stop-and-go traffic that's the real soul destroyer.

You can always buy more gasoline. But you can't buy more time.

The True Cost of Commuting

Source: Green Car Reports

Introducing The Triac Three-Wheeled Electric Car - $25,000 and 100 miles Range

Triac 3-Wheel EV







Is there a Triac in your future? Maybe -- if your conscience has evolved to a deep shade of green and you have $25,000 to spare on a locally manufactured, three-wheeled gasless electric vehicle with a 100-mile range.

I drove one around Los Gatos the other day with Mike Ryan, president of Green Vehicles, the Salinas company that makes them. A prototype, one of just a dozen made so far, it had a stick shift that will be replaced in the upcoming Triac 2.0 with an automatic transmission.

It's no Tesla, but that's the point, Ryan says. The Triac is a less costly vehicle for an environmentally conscious lifestyle.

"It's centered around what we call the Green Core. They want to better their environment and lower their carbon footprint. We want to do that within the limits of sustainable manufacturing, careful materials selection and affordability," he said.

A computer science and electrical engineering graduate from UC Berkeley, Ryan cofounded Green Vehicles in 2007 with valley intellectual property lawyer Ehab Youssef after selling a small chip company in Irvine to Broadcom and dabbling in real estate for a while.

"I was looking for something I was passionate about. The environment is top on my list," Ryan said.

Analyst John Gartner of Pike Research said, "We see the market really taking off in 2011, thanks to all the investment being made by companies like General Motors, Mitsubishi and Nissan." He said the biggest restriction

is cost, but he expects the price to come down over the next few years.

Paul Scott, vice president of the San Francisco based Plug In America, said "the market is quite robust" for lightweight commuter vehicles like the Triac. "It's going to look different, that limits its appeal somewhat, but given the efficiency of those vehicles -- they are very lightweight -- you're going to get a lot of people wanting to buy those as the cost of gasoline goes up." And there's a $7,500 federal tax credit and California rebate of up to $5,000 for qualifying EVs, he noted.

In my test drive, the Triac handled the uneven streets of Los Gatos well. It has a roomy passenger cabin despite its small size. It's zippy. And it felt good to have weaned myself from the gas pump, if only for 10 or 15 minutes.

Behind the wheel, it felt like a gasoline-powered car, with a few differences. It was silent. Braking was counterintuitive for someone who has driven stick shifts for many decades. As I pulled to a stop sign, my instinct with the manual shift engaged was to press on the clutch. But as with an automatic shift transmission, all I had to do was step on the brake.

The vehicle took a speed bump handily even though I didn't slow down for it, and it exhibited excellent acceleration. It's supposed to do 80 on the freeway, but I stayed in town and kept it under 35 mph.

The 100-mile range is due to its light weight and powerful lithium-ion battery, made by Leyden Energy in Fremont. The two companies have California Energy Commission grants totaling $5 million to make the batteries and vehicles in California. Leyden says the battery can operate at up to 140 degrees Fahrenheit without degradation of the cells, eliminating the need for a battery cooling system.

Range is a touchy subject among EV makers. "The reason I say an 'honest' hundred miles is there has been a tendency in some cases for folks to overestimate their range by calculating it in an advantageous situation, say, 30 mph on a flat surface with no stops," Ryan said. —‰'Honest' means this is what drivers will actually experience driving it around."

The first Triac prototypes were made in China, but the company moved manufacturing operations to California to lower its carbon footprint as soon as it got funding from the energy commission. Building the Triac in the state with the greatest market for electric vehicles will minimize the cost of transporting materials and vehicles, Ryan said.

"We're a California manufacturing company," he said. "A lot of people are going to like that."

Green Vehicles and Leyden announced their Triac partnership two weeks ago at Green Vehicles' 80,000-square-foot plant in Salinas. The vehicles are expected to begin rolling off the assembly line at the end of next year at a rate of 2,000 a year.

The Triac will include a Vehicle Efficiency Data Assistant -- VEDA -- interface to the battery management system as well as diagnostic and navigational data. VEDA is an electronic learning system that captures a person's driving habits and commute patterns to accurately predict miles left before recharging.

"Range anxiety is something that gives people a lot of concern," Ryan said. "Say I forgot to charge my car. I'm at lunch. I want to run an errand before I go home. Will I make it home?"

The Triac will have a slot for a personal digital assistant -- iPhone, Android, Palm or whatever -- that drivers can use to listen to podcasts, a daily itinerary or a business briefing on the way to work. The Triac will ask, "Are you going to work?" If the answer is "Yes," it will ask what you want to hear, Ryan said.

The idea is to give people a safe way of using their PDAs while driving.

Green Vehicles is also working on an online site that tracks the company's greenhouse gas emissions and waste. "I want people to see these kinds of metrics," Ryan said.

Source: Mercurynews.com