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Fact of the week

Posted by admin on Dec. 13, 2016  /  Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation, Case Studies, Emissions & Fuel Economy  /   0

The fuel economy of new light vehicles has generally risen since 2004 and reached an all-time high of 25.6 miles per gallon in model year (MY) 2016. The production-weighted average fuel economy of three of the vehicle classes – cars, car sport utility vehicles (SUVs), and truck SUVs – had never been higher than in MY 2016. For pickups and minivans, the MY 2016 average fuel economy reached the same level as a previous high. Car SUVs experienced a 131% improvement in fuel economy from MY 1975 to 2016 – the largest improvement of any vehicle class. Overall, pickups had the smallest fuel economy improvement of the vehicle classes (60%) likely due to changes in size and power of pickups sold over the time period shown.

NEW LIGHT VEHICLE FUEL ECONOMY BY VEHICLE CLASS, MY 1975-2016

Graph showing new light vehicle fuel economy by vehicle class for the model years 1975 through 2016.

Notes:

  • Model year 2016 data are preliminary.
  • To see a list of vehicles in the car SUV category, see Table 4.9 in the Transportation Energy Data Book: Edition 35.
  • Average fuel economy is the production-weighted harmonic mean.

Fact #955 Dataset

SUPPORTING INFORMATION

New Light Vehicle Fuel Economy by Vehicle Class, MY 1975-2016

Model YearFuel Economy (Miles per Gallon)
CarCar SUVPickupTruck SUVMinivan/vanAll Light Vehicles
1975 13.5 11.1 11.9 11.0 11.1 13.1
1976 14.9 10.6 12.4 11.8 11.8 14.2
1977 15.6 12.2 13.6 12.8 12.5 15.1
1978 16.9 11.6 13.3 12.3 12.1 15.8
1979 17.2 14.3 13.2 10.5 11.5 15.9
1980 20.0 14.6 16.5 13.2 14.1 19.2
1981 21.4 14.7 17.9 14.3 14.8 20.5
1982 22.2 19.8 18.5 14.7 14.7 21.1
1983 22.1 20.7 18.9 15.8 15.1 21.0
1984 22.4 19.3 18.3 16.2 16.1 21.0
1985 23.0 20.1 18.2 16.5 16.5 21.3
1986 23.7 18.9 18.9 17.0 17.5 21.8
1987 23.8 19.4 19.0 17.3 17.7 22.0
1988 24.1 19.2 18.1 17.0 17.9 21.9
1989 23.7 19.1 17.8 16.6 17.8 21.4
1990 23.3 18.8 17.4 16.4 17.8 21.2
1991 23.4 18.2 18.2 16.7 17.9 21.3
1992 23.1 17.8 17.5 16.2 17.9 20.8
1993 23.5 17.0 17.6 16.3 18.2 20.9
1994 23.3 18.0 17.4 16.0 17.8 20.4
1995 23.4 17.8 16.9 16.0 18.1 20.5
1996 23.3 18.4 17.1 16.2 18.3 20.4
1997 23.4 19.2 16.8 16.1 18.2 20.2
1998 23.4 18.2 17.0 16.2 18.7 20.1
1999 23.0 18.5 16.3 16.1 18.3 19.7
2000 22.9 17.9 16.7 16.0 18.6 19.8
2001 23.0 18.8 16.0 16.4 18.0 19.6
2002 23.1 19.3 15.8 16.3 18.7 19.5
2003 23.3 19.9 16.1 16.4 19.0 19.6
2004 23.1 20.0 15.7 16.5 19.2 19.3
2005 23.5 20.2 15.8 16.7 19.3 19.9
2006 23.3 20.5 16.1 17.2 19.5 20.1
2007 24.1 20.6 16.2 17.7 19.5 20.6
2008 24.3 21.2 16.5 18.2 19.8 21.0
2009 25.3 22.0 16.9 19.3 20.1 22.4
2010 26.2 23.0 16.9 19.7 20.1 22.6
2011 26.1 23.7 17.2 19.8 21.0 22.4
2012 27.9 23.4 17.2 20.0 21.3 23.7
2013 28.6 24.5 17.4 20.9 21.1 24.3
2014 28.7 24.6 18.0 21.7 21.3 24.3
2015 29.4 25.3 18.8 22.0 21.9 24.8
2016 29.8 25.6 19.0 22.6 21.9 25.6

Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Light-Duty Automotive Technology, Carbon Dioxide Emissions, and Fuel Economy Trends Report: 1975 Through 2016, November 2016, EPA-420-R-16-010, Tables 2.1 and 3.1.

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