The thing I am less clear about is how the government arrived at these figures. For instance, while the announcement was made at the SAE International World Congress, they don't really give too much in the way of feedback from those people who will be responsible for achieving the new standards. Sure, Lutz has responded, for whatever that's worth. But I wonder if engineers of some worth have weighed in. GM's director of powertrain systems research, J. Gary Smyth, simply commented on the number of vehicles that are on the road now and the projected number of vehicles that will be on the road in 2030.
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...Oge said the auto industry should be able to meet the 35 mpg standard by 2018 with the same size fleet, with cost-effective technology improvements, based on an internal EPA study.
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Well that's fine and good, Margo, but who helped to drive the internal EPA study? I'm not saying she's full of ****, yet, but were the numbers developed in part with the consultation of engineers who could comment more intelligently on the goals? It seems to me that if the proposals were supported by the SAE (or some other like organization), I'd be more convinced that they're achievable. But having the government mandate something-"your cars need to achieve 75 mpg, now have at it, folks"-without convincing evidence that it can be achieved isn't particularly inspiring.
Do any of the engineers who visit this site know more?