William Maley
Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com
October 4, 2013
The Environmental Protection Agency announced plans to release their results of fuel economy audits done on twenty vehicles.
Christopher Grundler, head of the EPA's Office of Transportation and Air Quality tells Automotive News the audits looked at a specific portion of the test cycle known as the coast-down test. The coast-down test has a vehicle run up to 80 MPH and then is allowed to glide to a stop. This test measures the aero of the vehicle, the rolling resistance of the tires, and amount of friction in the drivetrain. That data is then put into a dynamometer that an automaker uses to run its vehicle through the EPA test. This is what tripped-up Hyundai and Kia in their fuel economy ratings for a certain number of vehicles last year.
With the EPA's small staff, it typically only audits a small number of automaker's mpg results for new vehicles. Plus, the coast-down test was never really a focus of their investigations. That changed in 2010 as EPA wanted to deter automakers from inflating their fuel economy ratings.
Grudnler declined to reveal specifics of the EPA’s report, but did say "will be very interesting to some people."
Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)
William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at [email protected] or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.
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