Impact Analysis of Automotive Fuel Economy Standards on Consumers' Economic Benefit in Japan

Improving automobile fuel economy is one of the most promising approaches for saving energy and reducing CO2 emissions in the transport sector; Japan, the United States (US), and the European Union (EU) can set and update targets using this approach. Improving fuel economy requires new fuel-efficient technologies that generally increase vehicle cost, reduce fuel cost, and change the total cost of vehicle use. This study estimates the optimal target levels of the fuel consumption of passenger cars and their relation to consumer profit in Japan. The results reveal that the optimal improvement in average fuel consumption from the year 2002 would appear to fall in the range of 16% to 22% (in liters per kilometer L/km). This level would not be below the level of the current proposed targets in the EU and the US. Analyses by the inertia weight (IW) class suggest that improving the fuel economies of heavier classes would be more efficient than improving those of lighter ones. The sensitivity tests reveal that the potential impact of the technology price on the demand for fuel-efficient technologies is as much as the fuel price increase, even though the impact on consumer profit is less than that of fuel price. This preliminary study depends largely on the cost curves in related literatures from the EU and the US where the market situations and regulation approaches are different from those in Japan. A follow-up study should be conducted on the technology cost for a more accurate and reliable estimation.

• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Kii, Masanobu
  • Minato, Kiyoyuki
  • Hosoi, Kenzo
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 86th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2007-1-21 to 2007-1-25
• Date: 2007

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: CD-ROM
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 14p
• Monograph Title: TRB 86th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers CD-ROM

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Air quality management; Carbon dioxide; Consumer preferences; Emission control systems; Exhaust gases; Fuel conservation; Fuel consumption; Impact studies; Inertia (Mechanics); Pollutants; Regulations
• Geographic Terms: Japan
• Subject Areas: Energy; Highways; Law; Vehicles and Equipment; I91: Vehicle Design and Safety;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01043488
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 07-0829
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Mar 6 2007 2:38PM