There hasn’t been much blowback from automakers about the new fuel economy and emissions standards for a couple of reasons.
First, investments already made to improve powertrain efficiency are still viable, and some are still arriving, the EPA points out in its proposed new rules: “The technological achievements already developed and applied to vehicles within the current new-vehicle fleet will enable the industry to achieve the proposed standards even without the development of new technologies beyond those already widely available.”
Toyota, for example, is expanding availability of its Dynamic Force 2.0-liter engine in the Corolla compact sedan to the Corolla Cross crossover that is launching this summer. That engine, which boasts two fuel injection systems, electronic controls for the water and oil pumps and other advanced technologies, achieves an industry-leading 40 percent thermal efficiency rating.
That helps the Corolla hatchback reach an EPA-rated 41 mpg highway. The Corolla Cross carries a combined 32 mpg rating. Both vehicles — along with the Camry hybrid that gets fuel economy ratings in the 50s — will help offset the negative impact of Toyota’s sales of Tundras and Sequoias, the Lexus LX and its other big vehicles.
Also, automakers that oppose California’s ability to set its own emissions standards abandoned that fight after the November presidential election.
With many automakers pledging to go all-electric by the middle of next decade — or sooner — this generation of gasoline engines will likely be their last. But most of today’s engines can be mated to electric motors to create hybrid powertrains without major redesigns.
The diesel engine, which helped automakers meet previous fuel economy standards, is a nonstarter. Just three are being deployed in North America for the 2022 model year, and they will be in a small number of General Motors and Stellantis trucks.
At Ford Motor Co., the plan is to lean on hybrids and plug-in hybrids until BEVs begin selling in high enough volumes to replace internal combustion engines. The company views hybrids as necessary — at least in the midterm. Ford has launched a hybrid version of the F-150 pickup and will offer a battery-electric version next year.
GM is taking a different route to meet the tougher standards. The automaker, which aims to lead the switch to EVs, ditched hybrids when it ended production of the Chevrolet Volt in early 2019. It is investing $35 billion through 2025 in at least 30 electric vehicles and two battery plants.
If it does reintroduce a hybrid powertrain, it might be in the Chevrolet Corvette. Rumors of a Corvette E-Ray have been reported by enthusiast magazines.
Stellantis has added hybrid powertrains to such vehicles as the Ram pickup and Jeep Wrangler and plans to launch an electric Ram.
Says Brooke of SAE: “We’re still looking at steel-intensive vehicles — other than Ford — and kind of steady but incremental hybridization across the fleet.
“There won’t be any billion-dollar investments in new engine plants, but there will be incremental increases in fuel injection pressure and combustion chamber design and valve controls that will give you 1 or 2 percent improvement. That might be enough, depending on the fleet mix, to meet the new regulations.”
