Touting the the administration’s commitment to environmentally-friendly technology and to fueling green jobs, President Obama announced that the government will purchase 5,600 hybrid vehicles for the federal fleet – including 100 of the first Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrids to roll off the assembly line.
The government is moving quickly to replace some of its fleet’s least fuel-efficient models with hybrids. Not only is the goal to curb fuel consumption, but ultimately the total size of the government fleet will also be reduced.
“Additionally, agencies are: purchasing hybrid instead of conventional cars and trucks that use more fuel; downsizing vehicle fleets overall; and requiring plug-in electric charging stations for all new facilities and for major retrofits,” Obama said.
In addition to federal fleet adjustments, Obama also used the announcement as a reminder that final greenhouse-gas-emissions standards and Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards will be finalized tomorrow.
“Tomorrow, after decades in which we have done little to increase auto efficiency, those new standards will be finalized, which will reduce our dependence on oil while helping folks spend a little less at the pump,” Obama said.
These new standards will govern 2012 model year cars and trucks sold in the U.S. The new regulations will increase the fleet-wide efficiency of automakers up to 34.1 miles per gallon by the year 2016. This will also curb emissions by nearly 950 million metric tons and conserve 1.8 billion barrels of oil over the lifetime of the vehicles sold in the next five years.
* * *
Keep reading more Chevrolet news right here. Subscribe now.
{ 2 trackbacks }
Comments on this entry are closed.