What is a "light truck"?

[gnorthern]

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What does the term "light truck" mean in regards to the 2016 fuel mileage standards? I give up on trying to find an answer.

At first I thought US car companies were nuts for ignoring the Rangers and Colorados since they would need them to pull up their averages. Then I started thinking it must have something to do with the defintion for the fuel mileage standard that exculdes the Ford F series and Silverados.

Thanks for any answers.

[howam00]

Half tons (150/1500) and below only. The 250/2500 and up trucks are not included.

And really the CAFE standards are not the same as EPA standards. I can't remeber all the figures tossed around but sometinhg like the 26 or 28 MPG that trucks have to hit on the highway is like 22-24 MPG in an EPA setting so really the goal won't be that hard to reach other than it is based on the actual vehicles (and therefore the power train in them) sold not just the availability of a more efficient engine.

To complicate matters worse there is a huge bonus for flex-fuel vehicles so really I bet most automakers are actually really close to the CAFE standards now or exceeding them. Especially considering that nearly all GM trucks are flex-fuel and get some kind of break regardless of the fact that no one actually uses E85. I think eventually the automakers have to prove that flex-fuel is being used or that benefit goes away.

Sorry for the long response to a simple question.

[gnorthern]

All of your information is relevant and it clarifies everything. Thanks.

[MahindraPlanet]

A good definition of 'light truck' and supporting links (CARB, CAFE, etc.) via Wikipedia: Light truck - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[jriosa]

But you should be aware that in 2011, the CAFE standards change for trucks, as they will be defined based on "footprint" - so next year, the GVWR of 8500 lbs as the break point between light and medium duty is out the window, and many of the 2500/3500 series vehicles will come into play for the CAFE standards.

Howna00 is correct that there is a big difference difference between CAFE and EPA estimates (a very ballpark figure is that EPA is about 80% of CAFE). The flex fuel calculations look promising, and even through mathematically they could really jack the numbers up, they cannot show an increase greater than 1.2 mpg. Probably a good thing since E85 is still pretty scarce.

And to add one more complicating factor vis a vis CAFE, you have to remember it is a harmonic mean, not an arithmetic mean for the fleet. In other words, this is a measure of fuel efficiency AND production numbers. This is why fleet sales are so critical to manufacturers to meeting CAFE standards, as they can jack their production up on smaller fuel efficient vehicles to meet projected fleet sales. This effectively skews the CAFE averages up, so there is less criticality to improving things like fuel economy on medium duty trucks since the volume will be so much lower.

Jim

[howam00]

I have seen recently where larger truks will be included on some fuel economy ratings. It sounds like most up to 450-550 will need an EPA fuel economy rating sometime in the future. 2014 is stickign in my brain for somem reason.

Its all a complicated system but for all of its good intentions there are enough loopholes at least for the near future (5-7 years) that will allow the automakers to not really get any better performance out of the vehciles to meet the standards.

Good thing I have the ability to wait for the right product, i know a lot of people can't and are stuck with today's options.