As gas prices are once again soaring, the oil industry and its allies are renewing their calls for more drilling, more pipelines and continued taxpayers subsidies. The reality is that greatly increased domestic drilling has failed to lower gasoline prices and has had no impact on stoppingthe latest spike in global oil prices.
But our new study,“Relieving Pain at the Pump”,shows what does work: higher fuel-efficiency standards. Thanks to the first phase of these stronger standards that started in model year 2012, a bumper crop of fuel efficient cars are in the showrooms,today. In fact, since 2009 when President Obama announced the first set of fuel-efficiency standards, the number of popular, fuel-efficient models has more than doubled, from 27 models in 2009 to 57 today.
By trading in their current gas guzzlers for today’s gas sippers, drivers can substantially cut their fuel bills. For instance, driver that trades in a sport utility vehicle (SUV) that gets 15 mpg for one that gets 20 mpg can save $1000 each year at $4 per gallon of gasoline and 15,000 miles per year of travel.