DOE revises value for petroleum equivalency factor for EVs
20 March 2024
The US Department of Energy (DOE) published a final rule revising regulations regarding procedures for calculating a value for the petroleum-equivalent fuel economy of electric vehicles (EVs). The petroleum-equivalency factor (PEF) is used by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in calculating light-duty vehicle manufacturers’ compliance with the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards.
The PEF was last revised in 2020, with a PEF of 82,049 Wh per gallon.
In 2021, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and Sierra Club petitioned to update the regulations, saying that the old calculation included a multiplier of nearly seven that significantly inflated the calculated fuel economy of electric vehicles. By overstating the miles per gallon equivalent of any EVs in automakers’ fleets, the prior calculation enabled automakers to continue to sell far more conventional vehicles under CAFE rules.
This new final rule phases out the multiplier while updating other data used in the calculation with more current figures.
Revised PEF Values for MY 2024-MY 2030 EVs and later
Model Year | PEF |
2024-2026 | 82,049 |
2027 | 79,989 |
2028 | 50,427 |
2029 | 36,820 |
2030 and later | 28,996 |
The equivalency number has always been inflated, they don't take into account the energy it takes to make the electricity, it's just supposed to appear.
Posted by: SJC | 20 March 2024 at 07:36 AM
Meh. Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and Sierra Club are Bleeding-Heart Liberal Sentimental Dirty-Hippy anti-establishment, anti-civilization anarchists/ cultists. All technology, built-society, economic order, and man-made systems are offensive to them. There is no non-natural order that is sufficient to their goals and they cannot reliably/ happily live together in the communes, kibbutzes, and other pre-modernism collectives, from decades ago, that they feel everyone should inhabit. A failed value system only agitating for chaos and poverty as they seek an impossible 'return to nature and natural values' which is itself competitive, ruthless, and non-communal. Why anyone would fund, support, or otherwise take their policy initiatives seriously as good for peace, growth, and stability -- all technological fixes supported by economic growth only; indicates madness and ignorance. I trust that skyrocketing prices, technological work-arounds, and lack of widespread political support in the coming years will dismantle and disperse such counter-productive nonsense.
Posted by: Jer | 20 March 2024 at 09:52 AM
@Jer:
Thanks for the fact and reference filled evaluation.
I am glad you don't let personal opinion in any way bias you!
Posted by: Davemart | 20 March 2024 at 10:29 AM
This is a congress where people from different backgrounds express their viewpoints
and informed opinions, if you want to rent there are other places.
Posted by: SJC | 20 March 2024 at 10:49 AM