On Fuel Economy Efforts, U.S. Faces an Elusive Target
View on Yale Environment 360 website"Chrysler has been Tesla’s biggest customer. At first glance, it may seem peculiar to have Chrysler buyers subsidize the purchases of Tesla’s $100,000 luxury cars, but that’s the way CAFE is designed to work, according to Benjamin Leard, an economist at Resources for the Future, a Washington, D.C. think thank. The idea is to penalize companies that sell less-efficient cars, reward innovation, and reduce the cost of cleaner, more efficient cars. The trades also help companies that fail to meet CAFE standards avoid potentially stiff penalties, experts say."
"Leard, the economist, says: 'Having either a carbon tax or gasoline tax would be preferable to CAFE.' Others agree. But the likelihood of this Congress or the next one raising taxes or imposing new ones is slim. The federal gas tax, which stands at 18.4 cents a gallon, was last raised in 1993."
