Since October 2007, Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle of the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute have been tracking the month-to-month progress of the fuel economy for new vehicles sold in the U.S. In that time, this overall "window sticker" average mileage — as opposed to the actual real-world mileage vehicles get — has risen steadily from 20.1 mpg to 25.3, a 26 percent improvement. That percentage may or may not impress you, but it's indisputably a far cry from 1973, when fuel economy was measured at less than 12 mpg, having actually worsened in the preceding 50 years.
Related: New-Car Fuel Economy Sees Uncommonly Big Drop
So as those monthly gains have added up to some substantial improvement over the past seven years, it led researchers to ask this cumulative question: "How much fuel have we saved by driving these new vehicles with improved fuel economy, as opposed to driving vehicles that would have experienced no improvements in fuel economy?"
The answer: Since October 2007, the nation has racked up a cumulative fuel savings equivalent to what it would be if every single one of the 234 million light-duty vehicles on U.S. roads sat in the garage for more than a month. Assuming an average of 11,398 miles driven a year, researchers determined that new vehicles have conserved more than 15 billion gallons of fuel — the amount consumed by all vehicles in the U.S. for 33 days. That figure, in turn, represents a reduction of 297 billion pounds of carbon dioxide.
In September alone, fuel savings totaled 614 million gallons, a reduction of 12 billion pounds of carbon dioxide, according to the study. That's a savings of 6 percent in terms of both gallons of gas and emissions.
"The improvements in vehicle fuel economy over the past seven years are noteworthy, especially in relation to the improvements during the preceding eight decades," researchers stated. "As a consequence, we have seen sizable savings in fuel consumed and emissions produced."
This latest Transportation Research Institute study comes the same month that it reported the biggest dip in month-to-month U.S. fuel economy in nearly three years, decreasing to 25.3 mpg from just less than 26 mpg in August. Researchers attributed the decline to spiking SUV and pickup truck sales.
Indeed, as Cars.com reported earlier this month, sales of the Jeep Patriot surged in September by nearly 51 percent over the same month a year earlier, while Nissan Rogue sales were also up nearly 52 percent and Toyota RAV4 sales nearly 43 percent. Moreover, Bloomberg reported earlier this month that the Jeep brand has set a sales record every month in 2014, propelled by its top-selling Cherokee, as smaller SUVs like it and the Ford Escape "are helping the segment outdraw sedans so far this year."
Cars.com photo by Evan Sears
from KickingTires http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/
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