In the case of the Tesla Model Y, the issue at stake was whether the Model Y was a car or a light truck, which have different eligibility price caps. More recently, cars have increasingly morphed into cross-overs, most of which are legally trucks, even when they just look like a car wearing platform shoes. In the twentieth century, America fell in love with the car. The shift means that CAFE and other policies have less impact than expected—during the 1990s and early 2000s, both car and truck fuel economy rose, but fleetwide fuel consumption flatlined because the compositional shift towards less efficient trucks canceled out those gains. Suggested citation: Sallee, James, “What is a Car?” Energy Institute Blog, UC Berkeley, April 10, 2023, https://energyathaas.wordpress.com/2023/04/10/what-is-a-car/

Source: Los Angeles Times April 11, 2023 02:47 UTC