The Benefits of Energy-Efficient Cars
A range of cost-effective technologies are available to reduce or replace petroleum fuel use in light-duty vehicles, including cars and pickups. Hybrid cars deliver the most substantial carbon emissions reductions by pairing an electric motor and battery with an internal combustion engine. The combination enables the vehicle to regenerate braking loss and operate both engine and motor at greater efficiency, improving fuel economy and lowering greenhouse gas emissions.
Access Energy-Efficient Car Resources from Drawdown Georgia
Market Readiness and Available Technology
Hybrid cars and fuel-efficient light-duty vehicles (LDVs: cars, SUVs, pickups) are readily available and have secured a strong presence in the market (EPA, 2019). Over the past 5 years, most hybrid vehicle manufacturers improved fuel economy through advancements in design and technology.
Carbon emissions from cars and light-duty trucks have steadily declined, reaching record lows nearly every year since 2004. Fuel economy has improved drastically over the same time period and is projected to continue to increase into the future. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) greenhouse gas regulations and corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards have encouraged innovation and continue to stimulate the market for increased efficiency. Many advanced technologies are now standard equipment on new light-duty vehicles.
Although still in the demonstration stage, the field of autonomous vehicles has developed significantly over the past few years. The integration of basic autonomous features in conventional cars has proven to increase fuel economy not only of the car itself but also of non-autonomous fleets on the road. For example, a car driving in eco mode to optimize driving speed in context with traffic lights and surroundings can influence the behavior of other cars behind it.
According to the 2024 EPA Automotive Trends Report, adoption of simpler features – such as Start/Stop technology that automatically turns off engines when a car stops - has skyrocketed from about 15% of market share in 2017 to over 75% in 2023. Market share of hybrids and plug-in hybrids has also grown multi-fold.
Energy-Efficient Cars as a Climate Solution in Georgia
The Drawdown Georgia research team estimates that Georgia can reduce emissions by one megaton (Mt) of CO2e by improving the baseline fuel economy of light-duty vehicles by 3%.
What is the Carbon Emissions Reduction Potential by 2030?
Achievable reduction potential is derived by taking the technical reduction potential, outlined below, and developing a more realistic forecast that takes current rates of deployment, market constraints, and other barriers into consideration.
For energy-efficient cars, the Drawdown Georgia research team has calculated the achievable reduction potential to be 2.03 Mt of CO2e.
What Is the Upper Limit of Carbon Emissions Reduction Potential?
Technical reduction potential reflects the upper limit of emissions reductions for this solution without regard to the constraints that exist in the real world, such as economic or political considerations.
For energy-efficient cars, the Drawdown Georgia research team has calculated the technical reduction potential to be 4.1 Mt.
Progress on Energy-Efficient Cars
The 2022 CAFÉ standards applicable for model years 2024-2026 increase the industry-wide average to 49 mpg, up from 40 mpg announced in 2023. The 2024 CAFE standards, applicable for model years 2027-2032, require an increase at a rate of 2% annually for passenger cars, resulting in an overall industry-wide fleet average of approximately 50.4 miles per gallon in 2031 – 65.1 mpg for passenger cars and 45.2 mpg for light trucks.
A combined increase of 26% will reduce emissions across the transport sector by 16.4%, assuming that light-duty vehicles are responsible for 63% of the total 62.9 MMTCO2e created by the transportation sector in Georgia.
Assuming that 5% of light-duty vehicles are replaced each year, about 25% of cars operating in 2030 will be the average of the new CAFE standards.
Emission reductions from these cars are estimated to reduce emissions by 2.6 MMTCO2e. This considerably exceeds our original achievable potential estimate of 1.4 MMTCO2e by 1.2 MMTCO2e. Hence, we not only convert the original achievable potential to the baseline, but also increase it by 1.2 MMTCO2e. We further assume that about 20% of the technical potential of 4.1 MMTCO2e is converted to achievable, indicating that energy-efficient cars can now achieve more than anticipated.
Effectively, this results in 50% of technical potential being converted to achievable potential, which rises to 2 MMTCO2e in 2030.
Cost Competitiveness
Many fuel-saving technologies are available at attractive paybacks. Since the vast majority of Georgia's fleet operates on the traditional internal combustion engine (ICE), a focus on steady increases in average fuel economy from ICEs and hybrids (as quantitatively described above) will make significant contributions to Drawdown Georgia greenhouse gas reduction goals and demonstrate economic viability.
Depending on miles traveled and fuel prices, the cost of fuel economy technologies can be offset by operational cost. For example, the 2024 CAFE standards are expected to save individuals $600 per lifetime in gasoline costs.
Beyond Carbon Attributes
Benefits to the environment and public health come from improvements in air quality. Additional benefits include the creation of jobs associated with selling, installing, and maintaining hybrid vehicles.
Battery disposal has the potential for negative environmental and health impacts. There are also concerns regarding upward pressure on electricity rates to fund the investment in infrastructure required to charge hybrid batteries because some (not all) hybrids require electric charging.
Drawdown Georgia’s EV Toolkit addresses some of the most common issues faced by consumers interested in learning more about owning and driving hybrid and electric vehicles.
