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Hello everyone, I hope the summer is cruising along well for all of you. Right now we’re at a pivotal moment in the U.S. House on fuel economy legislation, and I have a number of twists and turns to the present and future of the hybrid market to report about. So let’s get to it.
All the best,
Scott Nathanson
UCS National Field Organizer &
HybridCenter.org Administrator
In this issue:
 I was hoping to bring news of a great victory in the House of Representatives on fuel economy in this month’s issue, but it looks like we’ll have to wait a bit. The vote on the House version of the comprehensive Energy Bill is being pushed into early August.
House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman John Dingell (D-MI) continues to be a key fly in the fuel economy ointment, refusing to allow the committee to put strong standards into the bill and attempting to delay any action by the House until autumn. But if Congressman Dingell wants to help out his buddies in the auto industry, his best bet would be to stop listening to them. There has been a veritable avalanche of data over the past few weeks that absolutely demolishes the key automaker arguments:
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35 mile per gallon (mpg) fuel economy standards will cost American jobs? Sorry, the reverse happens to be true. Our recently updated report shows that 241,000 jobs would be created in the United States through stronger standards, with a net creation of over 20,000 new jobs in the auto industry alone.
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35 mpg fuel economy standards will bankrupt the Big 3 automakers? Oops, they actually work to the Big 3’s financial advantage. Dr. Walter McManus, economist and former employee of JD Powers and General Motors produced this recent evaluation showing that under a standard of 35 mpg, General Motors, Ford Motor Corporation, and Chrysler Corp. stand to make $14.4 billion by 2017—at least $6 billion more than the competition.
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35 mpg fuel economy standards are not supported by the constituents in many areas of the country? Uh, can you say almost 90 percent public support, with 84 percent support in Congressman Dingell’s own district? A poll commissioned by the Pew Campaign for Fuel Efficiency showed that public support for increased fuel efficiency standards in Ohio, Tennessee, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Florida hovered between 88 and 90 percent, and a specific poll in Dingell’s district was still a whopping 84 percent. Can you say consensus?
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Supporters of the auto industry are offering compromises? No, a cop-out is not a compromise. Feeble proposals from Representatives Baron Hill (D-IN), Lee Terry (R-NE), Joe Barton (R-TX), Roy Blunt (R-MO), and Dennis Hastert (R-IL) will do very little. If you look at the bottom chart of this UCS fact sheet comparing the different plans, you can see that the oil and climate savings would be negligible compared to the 35 mpg plan.
As always, Driving Change Network members have been active on this issue. Many of you sent your own letters or used our online action center to register your support for strong standards with your Member of Congress. And, of course, thanks to all of you who helped generate thousands of gas receipts that have made their way to the halls of Congress in our Receipt Revolution campaign.
Many of you have also taken up virtual pen-to-paper and written Letters to the Editor. I have worked with a number of you to help provide the facts behind your letters, and I’m pleased to say that I just heard that DCN member Wayne Flick from Grand Junction, Colorado got his letter printed in the Grand Junction Free Press! Here’s the text of his letter:
Get hybrids on the market
I have made my personal effort for U.S. oil and environmental security by purchasing a Prius, and it is time for Colorado's representatives to do the same.
The U.S. House is about to vote on an energy bill that could lock-in the Senate's strong but sensible 35 miles-per-gallon target. The National Academy of Sciences has concluded that automakers already have the technology to make all their vehicles more fuel-efficient without sacrificing safety or size, and the House bill would give more than a decade to reach the 35 mpg target (remember that a decade ago, no one in America even heard of a hybrid).
Once these cleaner cars hit the road, it would result in more than $500 million in savings at the gas pump each year and more than 3,000 jobs created in Colorado. It would save more oil than we currently import from Saudi Arabia nationwide.
Congressman John Salazar and every representative in our state must take the responsibility to help bring these vehicles to market, just as Congress overrode automaker complaints about mandatory air bags, seat belts, and catalytic converters.
Wayne Flick
Grand Junction
Great job, Wayne, and thanks to the number of you who have also submitted letters. Keep us posted as to whether yours gets printed, and if you’d like some assistance constructing a letter, we’re happy to help out as best we can, so shoot me an email.
As you know, our intrepid Program Assistant Lindsay Vidal does a remarkable job sifting through newspapers and legislative indexes all over the country trying to keep our ever-expanding list of hybrid incentives as up-to-date as possible. One incentive we are about to add is the recently enacted Illinois hybrid rebate program initiated by State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias.
 The way the program works is pretty interesting. The state has ponied-up $2 million to give $1,000 rebates on hybrids if you use a participating financial institution for a car loan. The bank that does your loan will give you the rebate. What is also interesting here is this is the first incentive I have ever seen that actually allows the rebate to extend to the purchase of a used hybrid (with less than 7,500 miles on it).
But here’s where we at UCS run into an issue with this type of incentive. First, it’s a flat $1,000 for any qualifying vehicle. Second, the qualifying vehicles are pretty much anything that calls itself a hybrid. So, amazingly enough, hollow hybrids like the GMC Sierra and Chevy Silverado “hybrid” pickups, and muscle hybrids like the Honda Accord Hybrid and Lexus GS 450h, will get buyers the same taxpayer money as buying a Prius, Escape Hybrid, or Civic Hybrid.
This incentive lacks any standard whatsoever. And standards make all the difference between policies that can push automakers and consumers into providing and purchasing better choices, and policies that just “doing something” to try and be more environmentally sensitive (or at least appear that way). Simply put, policies without standards are usually a one-way ticket to ineffectiveness.
This is why we worked hard with Congress to ensure that the federal advanced vehicle tax credit had both performance-based credits and a baseline emission standard. The both performance-based credits are based on the fuel economy improvements of the hybrid technology as compared to conventional vehicles in its class. The baseline smog forming emission standard is so that some hybrid and diesel vehicles that traded fuel economy for smog would not be eligible. Those standards have helped push consumers to cleaner cars, and make a statement to automakers that trading fuel economy for smog was not going to pass muster.
So if your county, city, or state is considering trying to be more green with a hybrid perk of its own—be it a sales tax exemption, free parking, or a rebate—be sure to push your decision maker into supporting incentives that don’t just reward the hybrid name, but give credit for how that technology is actually used.
- Growing, Shifting Hybrid Market: The hybrid market is clearly growing, as record sales in May indicate (up over 90 percent from a year ago). Not to mention that the Prius has, for the first time, cracked the top 10 individual model sales. Yet even with this success, there are some caution flags being raised for this market. A recent J.D. Power and Associates study indicates a decline in the number of new-vehicle shoppers considering hybrids. The study also reported that car shoppers said they were willing to pay an extra $2,396 for a hybrid powertrain while expecting a fuel economy improvement of 18.5 miles per gallon. In last year's survey, buyers said they expected to pay an additional $5,250 for a hybrid car and they expected to get an additional 28 miles per gallon. So while this means that people are becoming more realistic in their expectations of current hybrid technologies, it should continue to serve as a warning sign to the automakers that consumers expect a focus on fuel economy, not more muscle, out of any hybrid they might consider. To learn more about the hybrid vehicle market, visit the Hybrid News Center.
 The Race for Plugin Hybrids: Toyota recently gained approval to commence test runs of its plug-in hybrid vehicle prototype in Japan. Toyota will use the tests to collect data on the car's performance, putting the vehicle one step closer to production. The Ford Motor Company, in cooperation with Edison subsidiary Southern California Edison, will also begin testing 20 Escape Hybrids and converted Escape plugins as part of a project to investigate how to commercialize plug-in hybrids. This announcement comes just weeks after Google announced its partnership with PG&E to demonstrate plug-in hybrid and vehicle-to-grid technology. A new study by the Electric Power Research Institute and the Natural Resources Defense Council estimates that widespread use of plugin hybrids would lead to only a minor increase in demand for electricity and a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century. For more information, visit the Hybrid News Center.- New Hybrids Big, Small, and Hollow: The 2008 Chevrolet Malibu “Hybrid” made its debut at Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game. The Malibu employs the same conventional technology improvements used in the Saturn Greenline Vue and Aura, but does not have the battery capacity to be considered a hybrid vehicle. On the genuine hybrid front, the 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid has a new look and boost in fuel economy—nearly a 14 percent improvement in city driving compared to the 2007 model. The improvement is in part to the new Electric Power Assist Steering (EPAS) system which allows more of the engine’s power to go directly to the wheels. Smart will begin production of a “micro-hybrid” variant of the Smart Fortwo which will use a belt-driven starter generator. The micro-hybrid system is expected to deliver an estimated 54.7 mpg, and it looks like plans are in place to bring the vehicle to the U.S. market. To learn the latest on other hybrid vehicle models, visit the Hybrid News Center.
The litigious nature of U.S. society has spilled over into the hybrid market. California musician John True is suing Honda because he’s averaged just 32 mpg in his Civic Hybrid—clearly below the 49 mpg city/51 mpg highway fuel economy advertised (have to say, I’d like to be a fly on the gas pedal to know how Mr. True drove his Civic Hybrid in order to get only 32 mpg). This case, whatever the merit, is one of the most public signs of the confusion wrought by the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) use outdated fuel economy tests to compute its window stickers.
 Fortunately, last December, the Environmental Protection Agency announced new testing methods for calculating the city and highway fuel economy estimates provided on new vehicle window stickers. Beginning with 2008 model year vehicles, the EPA will use new test methods to calculate city and highway fuel economy estimates. While this new calculation method is not as ideal as the creation of a fully updated testing process, it will help address the disparity between real world and EPA-estimated fuel economy by more fully accounting for modern driving conditions and vehicle technologies.
Both hybrid and non-hybrid vehicle models will be affected by the new fuel economy tests. But while the big focus has been on the fact that hybrid models have seen the largest numerical drop in their fuel economy estimates under the new system, what has not been mentioned is far more important—how much gas will a hybrid save you compared to a conventional version of a similar vehicle. The answer may surprise you—see here:
Change in Gasoline Savings for 2007 Model Year Hybrid vs. Conventional Models under the new EPA tests
Now, of course, real world conditions will vary, but while the magic MPG numbers may have dropped, a more accurate look at hybrid performance indicates that sound use of hybrid technology creates an even greater fuel saving advantage than what we saw with the old tests. Now that’s news you can use!
Here are a few of the latest submissions to our “Who’s Got Hybrids?” feature:
 Carol Monahan of Seattle, Washington and her husband became a two-Prius household after adding a 2007 Prius to their 2003 model. The Monahans “briefly considered looking at other cars, but—until they bring back a true electric—this is the one for [them].”
 Pat Benjamin of New Braintree, Massachusetts has driven an Insight since September 2002. Pat notes, “it's an ideal commuter car for the two-lane roads of central and western Massachusetts (although Zippy can get up there on the interstate as well!).”
 Heather Wright of Chassell, Michigan recommends her Prius Gen. 2 to anyone and everyone. She was “able to put a hitch on the back to safely carry [her] bike, which makes [her] car a very suitable road tripping vehicle.”
 Margo Bangert of San Carlos, California loves her fully loaded 2006 2WD Ford Escape, which she has named “HYBEE.” She recommends getting the onboard computer display as it really helps with getting the best mileage.
Be sure to check out all the other pictures and testimonials at “Who’s Got Hybrids?” We’re always looking for new people, so please encourage your hybrid-owning friends to join us!
That’s it for this month. Keep your fingers crossed on the fuel economy bills in Congress, and while you’re at it, keep those letters pouring into the House!
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