Energy Literacy Advocates Newsroom

In one of our previous posts (Cash for Clunkers - An Opportunity Lost?) we attempted to analyze some of the pros and cons of Cash for Clunkers legislation proposed at the time. Now that the bill has been signed in to law by President Obama Energy Literacy Advocates wanted to reiterate several key points about the legislation:

1. If you are looking purely for fiscal stimulus (and more specifically fiscal stimulus for the auto industry) it appears this law has a chance at providing it.
2. However ELA would like to reiterate the uniqueness of the opportunity to meaningfully increase fleet wide fuel efficiency that has been missed. While the car minimum requirement of 22 MPG is at least above the current fleet wide average, SUVs and trucks need only achieve 18 MPG to receive a rebate - pathetically inadequate in this authors view.
   
3. In part this law needed to provide a path to a more fuel efficient future by helping to nudge both auto makers and consumers to permanently choosing more fuel efficient vehicles. A program that demands little in the way of increases in fuel efficiency and expires on November 1st is unlikely to do that, although time will tell.

While perhaps this piece of legislation is better than none at all, it was disappointing to see fiscal stimulus trump fuel efficiency to the degree that it did, especially since other versions of the legislation were proposed that seemingly balanced stimulus and efficiency objectives well. Current economic and auto maker conditions provided the once in a lifetime opportunity to pass this legislation, it is too bad it could not go further to achieve truly lasting objectives.