Electric vehicles and the corporate average fuel economy

In June 1978, The Aerospace Corporation was requested by the Department of Energy (DOE) Electric and Hybrid Vehicle (EHV) Division to develop a methodology for including electric vehicles in the corporate average fuel economy (CAFE). Because of the potential for such inclusion to be an incentive for electric vehicle (EV) production, DOE requested that Aerospace expand its study; from this, DOE developed its position on legislative initiative. From the work done, it could be stated (in the 3rd annual Report to Congress) that DOE supports "legislation before Congress to include EVs in the computation of CAFE as a crucial incentive to electric vehicle production..." Late in 1979, Senator McClure, the leading EV proponent in the Senate, attached an amendment to the Senate version of the Chrysler aid bill to establish a 7-year evaluation period during which EVs would be included in the CAFE. With the enactment of the Chrysler Corporation Loan Guarantee Act (P.L. 96-185), DOE is to promulgate a final methodology for computing the "petroleum equivalent fuel economy" by November 7, 1980. This paper describes the Aerospace study and recommendations prepared for DOE in their establishment of the "petroleum equivalent fuel economy" for electric vehicles.