Creating the 54.5 mpg car

Part 2 of AEI's three-part series looks at how vehicle engineers are facing a “stress test” as the countdown to 2025 CAFE begins. How will the aggressive new regulations influence U.S. passenger cars in the next decade-and what will they cost to implement?

“Michael Phelps has a pretty easy job ahead of him, compared with what our industry is facing with the upcoming CAFE regulations,” said Gary Rogers, the outspoken President and CEO of FEV Inc., when he addressed a conference of auto industry executives last summer.

Rogers, whose company helps automakers develop and test new technologies for improving vehicle efficiency, believes meeting the new 54.5-mpg Corporate Average Fuel Economy fleet average is an “onerous task” far more daunting than the ace American swimmer's gold-medal prospects were in the 2012 Olympics. His view is shared by many product planners, designers, and engineers charged with improving vehicle fuel efficiency by a total of 50% through MY2025, when the peak of the CAFE regulations must be implemented.