Fuel economy regulations are getting unreasonable. It is becoming increasingly difficult and expensive to design and build a car that is satisfying to drive. Carbon fiber is light and strong, but very expensive. I read an analysis of the US fuel economy rules which concluded only electric cars and hybrids will be able to eventually meet the standards.
We will quickly reach a point that at US petrol prices the cost will be unrecoverable through fuel savings. Analysis of presently offered electric cars and plug in hybrids show they do not reach a break even point in 10 years. After that the lithium battery goes bad and the car is nearly worthless.
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