Vehicle Fuel Economy Stays The Same In July

ANN ARBOR – Gas

mileage of new vehicles sold in the U.S. remained unchanged last month,

according to researchers at the University of Michigan Transportation Research

Institute. Average fuel economy (window-sticker values) of cars, light trucks,

vans and SUVs purchased in July remained at 25.4 mpg.

“The

fuel economy in July was unchanged from that in June, consistent with the

increased market share of vehicle in the middle of the fuel-economy spectrum,

such as crossovers,” said Michael Sivak, a research professor at UMTRI.

Overall,

fuel economy is down 0.4 mpg from the peak reached in August 2014, but up 5.3

mpg from October 2007 – the first full month of monitoring by Sivak and colleague

Brandon Schoettle.

In addition

to average fuel economy, Sivak and Schoettle issued a monthly update of their

national Eco-Driving Index, which estimates the average monthly emissions

generated by an individual U.S. driver. The EDI takes into account both the

fuel used per distance driven and the amount of driving – the latter relying on

data that are published with a two-month lag.

During May,

the EDI improved to 0.82 (the lower the value, the better) from 0.85 in April.

The index currently shows emissions of greenhouse gases per driver of newly

purchased vehicles are down 18 percent, overall, since October 2007. EDI

reached its best level (0.78) in August 2014.