The U.S. Government is making structural changes to the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) requirements, but it is only a symbolic move. The country needs a real catalyst to spark innovation in fuel efficiency technology.

For those unfamiliar with CAFE requirements, these rules govern the minimum average fuel standards that each automotive company must meet with the vehicles it creates. While the government has made minor adjustments to the requirements for each category of vehicles, these rules are far out of sync with the original intentions.

The most substantial changes in the auto industry have come from the type of vehicles purchased by consumers. The CAFE rules originally offered minimal fuel requirements for trucks and vans to minimize the financial impact on businesses, while increasing requirements for consumer vehicles. At the time of creation, these classes of vehicles amounted for only a small percentage (single digits) of total vehicles on the road, with consumers purchasing almost entirely cars. Since then, the consumer market has made a drastic shift towards trucks and vans. As a result, the lower standards allotted for these “business class” vehicles have now become the dominant vehicles on the roads.

In addition, the overall fuel economy trends have essentially hit a plateau over the past 12+ years. Green Car Congress recently issued a report summarizing the most recent findings on the area. The most interesting take away from their research is that at a time when the automobile industry claims it is spending tremendous amounts of money on R&D into new fuel sources all research into gas powered engine efficiency seems to have stopped.

The release of many of the hybrid vehicles the attempts at creating fuel cell vehicles should be applauded, but these advances simply are not large enough, and they do not offer enough of a benefit to consumers. Most hybrid vehicles on the market today cost several thousand dollars more than their counterparts on the market. Even with the current high gas prices, it still takes regular driving for more than three years for consumers to begin to see any real benefit from ownership of a hybrid.

Given the additional cost of most hybrid vehicles, consumers have been reluctant to purchase these vehicles in real numbers. Not to mention, that the new mini-SUV hybrids, such as the Ford Escape, appear to offer only minimal fuel efficiency improvements under the driving conditions of many of their owners (e.g. less stop-n-go traffic).

Hydrogen power vehicles do hold the promise of a best case scenario, with zero pollutants and long distances between refills. Automotive companies promise that these vehicles will begin to be rolled out in the next five to ten years, and the State of California is hoping to have small numbers on their roads as early as 2007. However, industry experts do not believe that we will see significant volumes for much longer due to the lengthy time to build the refueling infrastructure, and that assumes that the safety concerns can be overcome.

Will hybrid vehicles be the way of the future? Will consumers be forced to live with a continuing of the current fuel efficiency technology?

Without a real catalyst, the market is likely to see more of the same until hydrogen vehicles hit the market. The drastic increase in gas prices recently may serve as such a spark to the market by pushing consumer demand, but this is unlikely. The restructuring of the CAFE standards have the possibility of accelerating innovation in fuel efficiency. Unfortunately, the government has not announced specifics for the proposed restructuring, and industry analysts expect the changes to only amount to a splitting of current categories with little overall impact.

The time has come for our politicians to drastically increase the CAFE requirements on new vehicles. The technology is available for at least a 10% to 20% increase in current standards. A significant increase in the standards would encourage the core parts of the industry to further increase funding in engine technologies and would offer a real opportunity for new technology firms.

Most consumers have never contacted their elected officials for anything more than contesting a local parking ticket. If you are feeling the “pinch at the gas pump”, please contact your congressmen/woman and encourage them to increase the CAFE standards and fuel efficiency requirements that automakers must follow (an email only takes 2 minutes, and a call only take 4 minutes - be sure to include your home address for you opinion to count). For those that work in mechanical engineering and technical fields, the opportunity exists for you to make your mark.

Please post back with links to advancements and technology available today. We are also interested in hearing about fuel efficiency projects currently underway.