SUV Sales Exceed 40% Of Global Car Sales -- First Time -- May 28, 2020

In the early 1990s I attended Air War College, the senior service school of the USAF. I remember one lecture in particular. A retired multi-star general officer opined that within 20 years there would no longer be any internal combustion engines. Twenty years from that lecture was 2014 -- and, you know -- in the big scheme of things he was more right than wrong. Well, that's not quite right. He became part of the mainstream thinking that ICE were on the endangered species list. But it looks like they were all wrong.

See the KPMG paper linked yesterday, and then, now this:

Sure, SUVs could be EVs but they aren't (for the most part).

Wow, I had to look at that again -- 40%. That is not trivial, by any stretch of the imagination. At the link, the IEA report is very, very long; use "SUV" search to find the note.

Other links:

• The Atlantic, June 20, 2018;

From wiki:

The CAFE achieved by a given fleet of vehicles in a given model year is the production-weighted harmonic mean fuel economy, expressed in miles per US gallon, of a manufacturer's fleet of current model year passenger cars or light trucks with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of 8,500 pounds (3,856 kg) or less (but also including medium-duty passenger vehicles, such as large sport-utility vehicles and passenger vans, with GVWR up to 10,000 pounds), produced for sale in the United States.

The CAFE standards in a given model year define the CAFE levels that manufacturers' fleets are required to meet in that model year, specific levels depending on the characteristics and mix of vehicles produced by each manufacturer. If the average fuel economy of a manufacturer's annual fleet of vehicle production falls below the applicable requirement, the manufacturer must either apply sufficient CAFE credits to cover the shortfall or pay a penalty, currently $5.50 per 0.1 mpg under the standard, multiplied by the manufacturer's total production for the U.S. domestic market.

Congress established both of these provisions explicitly in EPCA, as amended in 2007 by EISA. In addition, a Gas Guzzler Tax is levied on individual passenger car models (but not trucks, vans, minivans, or SUVs) that get less than 22.5 miles per US gallon (10.5 l/100 km).