Study: A 50% increase in fuel-efficiency may add $9,000 to cost of new vehicle

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A long-delayed report based on a National Academies of Science report which was supposed to be released in 2008, finds various options for increasing fuel-efficiency by up to as much as 50%, but may add up to $9,000 to the cost of a new vehicle. The study unfortunately came after the administration, Congress, and California officials set new fuel economy standards which set a target for new vehicles on American roads to average 34.1 mpg by 2016.

The panel conducting the study found that switching to diesel fuel would increase the efficiency of a gasoline engine by 37%, and switching to a hybrid would increase efficiency by 50% over your typical engine.

The study also took into consideration more exotic technology such as plug-in hybrids and homogenous charge compression vehicles, but acknowledged that it would be impossible to tell which technology would work best for the lowest price in the interim.

– By: Stephen Calogera

Source: Free Press