Archive for the ‘Barack Obama’ Category

Yesterday, President Obama unveiled the new auto emissions and efficiency standards that we've been expecting since last week. Those regulations, which kick in during the 2012 model year, require an annual boost in fuel efficiency of around 5%, with a target of reaching 35.5 mpg by calendar year 2016. (That's from a starting point of 27.3 mpg in the 2011 model year.)

Of course, those efficiency figures represent fleetwide averages. Cars will have higher standards, ranging from 33.6 mpg in 2012 to 38 mpg in 2016. Light trucks have it slightly easier, with a planned efficiency increase from 25 mpg to 28.3 mpg by model year 2015.

Along with...

Yesterday, President Obama announced $2.4 billion in technology grants to car companies, battery makers, universities, and research facilities across the U.S. During his speech in Elkhart, Indiana, the president stressed the importance of battery development as a way of reviving America's manufacturing sector and reducing the country's dependence on foreign oil. Vice President Joe Biden and several members of the president's cabinet also unveiled grant awards at various sites around the country.

These announcements have been some time in coming. The grant funds were included in the $787 billion stimulus package created by the federal...