Quote:
Originally Posted by Lazarus
Are emissions and CAFE the same thing? There were several changes during those time frame.
Also how do we know that without emissions that the MPG would not also increase. We have no data because the it's illegal to do so but there have been folks that pull emission stuff to get better mileage or run leaner getting higher NOX levels that would not meet the EPA standards but get better FE. |
I'm sure there's data out there
Illegal drugs are... well illegal - but we somehow know about how many people are on them... (But that said, there's plenty of places to poke holes
)
One of the things I wanted to bring to the table is that emissions standards doesn't automatically mean lower fuel economy. That is, fuel economy and emissions can coexist. For example, Tier II emissions went into place - and we didn't see any significant change in FE or total consumption.
Additionally, if we think of emissions equipment as a hindrance... Every car has the same requirement to meet - but there's still an increase in the mpg numbers and a decrease in consumption (the mfr's were still able to decrease consumption with the standards in place). What I'd like to know, if I had a time machine, if these standards weren't put in place - would we see the same upwards trends in fuel efficiency?
EDIT: To answer your question... No emissions and CAFE are independent. I've got the data for mpg versus CAFE standards somewhere, I'll look for it.