How Colorado cars stack up to EPA's mileage standard
Colorado's favorite vehicles will need dramatic makeovers to meet the Environmental Protection Agency's aggressive fuel efficiency standard of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025.
From the No. 1 Subaru Outback to the Honda Accord, all 10 of Colorado's most popular vehicles will have to roughly double or triple their fuel economies to make the mark. That means, if the rule holds, the Colorado car market will look drastically different in the coming years.
But the full story is a little more complicated. Here's what you need to know about the EPA's plans to curb vehicular greenhouse gas emissions.
Lots of footnotes to that 54.5 mpg standard
Technically, the 54.5 mpg target represents a target for manufacturers of passenger cars and light-duty trucks come 2025. The actual number will vary somewhat among manufacturers and depends on expected yearly sales for each vehicle model, among other things.
In plain English: Not all manufacturers and not all vehicles will be held to the exact same fuel economy standard. A pickup truck's target fuel economy might be more like 33 mpg, while a compact car could have a target of 61 mpg.
There are other ways manufacturers can technically meet the standard without going all the way on fuel economy — like improving air conditioning for lower emissions or introducing new technology like hybridization of full-size pickup trucks. (Imagine that: A hybrid pickup.)
Colorado's Subaru obsession impacts emissions
This has been in the works for a while now
President Barack Obama first introduced the 2025 standard in 2012 as part of a national effort to decrease vehicular emissions. But the road to finalizing the standard has been lengthy. The EPA has until April 2018 to put the standard on the books, but the agency has been making moves to firm it up and is expected to issue a final ruling before President-elect Donald Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration.
Meanwhile, fuel economy has been improving, but automakers will need to take measured steps each year to achieve the standard.
The auto industry isn't all on board
Carmakers wanted the EPA to temper its standards as part of a 2016 review that took into account gas prices and current technology. But the review came and went, and the EPA declined to lower the standard or extend a comment period for its decision.
Many manufacturers have expressed doubt they'll meet the EPA's targets on time, and the EPA's own calculations predicted automakers are unlikely to meet the goal. But the agency has repeatedly defended the standards as attainable.
Fort Collins' biggest polluter might surprise you
Trump might be able to undo the standard
Things could get sticky with a new administration in the White House. Trump's EPA pick, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, hasn't been shy about his distaste for the EPA and environmental regulation in general. Pruitt will have his confirmation hearing soon, though a date has not yet been set. But assuming he takes over the EPA, he could work with Trump to try to get rid of the fuel economy rule or amend it with reduced targets.
The paths to rolling back a finalized rule are complicated, litigious and sometimes require Congressional approval that will be hard to win with such divided chambers, according to Jody Freeman, a Harvard law school professor and former climate adviser to Obama, as reported by Vox. So while it's possible that Pruitt will modify the fuel economy standards, he won't be able to do it with a flick of his wrist.
2017 fuel economy of Colorado's top 10 vehicles
1. Subaru Outback: Up to 25 city/32 highway
2. Subaru Forester: Up to 26 city/32 highway
3. Toyota Highlander: Up to 21 city/27 highway
4. Honda CR-V: Up to 28 city/34 highway
5. Subaru Legacy: Up to 25 city/34 highway
6. Subaru Impreza: Up to 28 city/38 highway
7. Toyota RAV4: Up to 23 city/30 highway
8. Honda Accord: Up to 27 city/36 highway
9. Toyota 4Runner: Up to 17 city/21 highway
10. Subaru Crosstrek: Up to 26 city/33 highway
Source: AAA Colorado