Technology

59193 readers

2579 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

Follow the lemmy.world rules.
Only tech related content.
Be excellent to each another!
Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
Politics threads may be removed.
No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

268

American automakers are losing the race to make more fuel-efficient vehicles (www.theverge.com)

submitted 10 months ago by boem to c/technology

59 comments fedilink hide all child comments

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] AA5B 4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

They did, decades ago. That is no longer an issue.

Now we have current efficiency standards that focus on cars. However trucks have much lower requirements because businesses might need additional capabilities. No individual would ever buy a truck as a personal vehicle , right? So you have these criteria meant to give a break to businesses, but ever larger vehicles mean that personal vehicles now also qualify. They can be made more cheaply, with more profit.

Somehow, they didn’t consider the criteria would be abused for more profitable personal vehicles

Pickup truck? Clearly a contractor so let’s give you a break
All wheel drive and high clearance? Clearly a rare specialty off-road vehicle that needs a break
Seats 7+, even if they’re only toddlers? Clearly a transportation service, so needs a break in efficiency to carry more passengers
Tow hitch? Clearly in need of extra torque and heavy duty frame for whatever business need you’re towing