With more and more stringent environmental protection and emission requirements, the fuel economy of almost all vehicles can now reach more than twice that stipulated by the US Environmental Protection Agency 1975. Yes, you are right. As early as 1975, the US Environmental Protection Agency began to collect data on automobile emissions and fuel economy trends.
However, please note that our word is "almost", which means that while most cars are trying to improve fuel economy and reduce emissions, a few "backward elements" are still playing the role of energy killers and environmental destroyers.
This laggard who sings against the intensive society is a pickup truck. Yes, we are talking about all pickup trucks on the market at present. Even though the fuel efficiency of new cars has been improving rapidly in recent years, the fuel economy of pickup trucks lags far behind other models.
Trend chart of average fuel consumption of various vehicles of the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
After so many years, the fuel economy of pickup trucks is still very disappointing. Last year, the average annual fuel consumption of pickup trucks increased from 18.9mpg to 19. 1mpg (note: mpg stands for mileage per gallon, and the larger the value, the better the fuel economy of vehicles), which exceeded the best average fuel consumption level of pickup trucks 1987.
However, if you compare this improvement with the average fuel consumption trend of other models in the above table, you will find that pickup trucks have the worst performance and the smallest growth.
Although the US Environmental Protection Agency released "20 19" in early March this year? According to the EPA automobile trend report, the fuel economy of pickup trucks may increase to 19.4mpg again this year, and this progress is still minimal.
Why does the pickup truck keep dragging its feet?
Why is it so difficult for pickup trucks to transform from environmental killers to environmental fighters? Part of the reason for this situation is that car companies have been "fattening" pickup trucks for many years in order to improve the performance of pickup trucks.
Ford F- 1975+050
According to the data released by the US Environmental Protection Agency, the average weight of the pickup truck of 1975 is only about 20 kilograms heavier than the cars and station wagons at that time. But by 20 18, the gap between them has reached 77 1 kg by leaps and bounds.
During this period, ordinary new cars and station wagons are implementing various weight reduction plans, and their efforts have made the average weight loss of cars/station wagons 13%. However, the relative pickups are gaining weight, and the average weight of these pickups has increased by as much as 30% regardless of the load.
20 19 Ford F- 150 raptor
Of course, in addition to getting heavier, these pickup trucks are getting bigger and bigger. From 2008 to 20 18, pickup trucks soared like "taking hormones" and quickly surpassed the size growth rate of other models.
During this period, the size of other types of vehicles increased from 1% to 3%, while the average size of pickup trucks increased by 4% (about 0.23 square meters).
But from the market point of view, pickup trucks that have become "fat and big" are not more popular with consumers. Its market share is basically the same as that of 45 years ago. 1975, the market share of pickup trucks accounted for 13% of the total automobile sales, and in 20 18, the figure was 14%.
Regarding the most important fuel consumption problem, although Japanese cars have always been known for their excellent fuel economy. But among all pickup trucks, Honda has the best fuel economy only 2 1.8mpg, which can be achieved because Honda only has Ridgeline, a medium-sized pickup truck.
As for pickup trucks from other automobile manufacturers, the average fuel consumption is in the range of 18-20mpg. Ironically, Toyota, which successfully introduced the hybrid concept to the global market, is the lowest ranked brand here. The average fuel consumption of Toyota pickup trucks is 18.2mpg, which is because Toyota has a full-size pickup truck Tutankun Tundra and a medium-sized pickup truck Tacoma.
In order to reduce the harm of "environmental killer" and save fuel, in fact, some automobile manufacturers have started to make weight loss plans for pickup trucks and started to implement them.
For example, in 20 15, Ford took the lead in upgrading its best-selling pickup truck F- 150 to aluminum alloy body, which immediately reduced the average weight of pickup trucks.
In 20 19, GM and FCA also made weight reduction plans for their full-size pickups, and it is expected that the average weight of pickups will be further reduced slightly this year.
However, we have to point out that although the reduction of average vehicle weight will reduce the fuel consumption of pickup trucks, it is meaningless to reduce the fuel consumption of vehicle weight recovery if most automobile manufacturers are still caught in an unintentional dispute between load capacity and traction capacity.
Because at least for most users, they don't really value this part of the performance of pickup trucks, and they rarely use them. And this technology that only a few car owners can use is at the expense of efficiency.
But for GM, Ford and FCA, pickup trucks are huge profit centers after all, so these car companies obviously don't want to take too much risks, exchange performance for efficiency and improve fuel economy, so even now pickup trucks still can't get rid of the identity of environmental killer.
Three major pickup truck manufacturers
Efforts to improve fuel efficiency
Dodge Ram: Ram with V6 and V8 engines? 1500 pickup truck is introduced into the eTorque system of FCA, which can improve the fuel consumption performance of each pickup truck by 2mpg, and FCA will also reduce the weight of the pickup truck by 102 kg.
GM: Last year's full-size pickup Chevrolet Silverado? 1500 and GMC? Sierra has been redesigned and equipped with a new dynamic fuel management system for the large V8 engine, which can intelligently close the cylinder according to the actual use. In addition, GM will also reduce the weight of its pickup truck by 204kg.
Ford: In 20 15 years, by upgrading the aluminum alloy body, Ford reduced the weight of the new generation F- 150 pickup truck by about 3 18kg. Ford is also considering launching the F- 150 hybrid version later this year.
In addition, the three companies also want to further improve the fuel level through diesel engines. For example, Ford upgraded its power? Stroke? 3.0L？ V6 turbocharged diesel engine can make pickup truck consume 2 1mpg in urban area and 29mpg at high speed.
As for Dodge Ram's EcoDiesel light diesel engine, the fuel economy is definitely better than that of gasoline engine. General motors now offers Duramax? The 3.0-liter L6 turbocharged diesel engine can provide high-speed fuel consumption up to 33mpg.
However, in view of the rapid decline of diesel vehicles in the market, the diesel versions of these pickup trucks do not have enough sales now, so it is difficult for the three major pickup truck manufacturers to improve the average fuel consumption of pickup trucks through them.
Therefore, in the future, if pickup trucks want to stop dragging their feet in the dense automobile market, it is obviously not enough to rely solely on upgrading fuel pickup trucks.
Fortunately, starting from this year, there will be some highly anticipated electric pickups on the market, such as Rivian? R 1T, Tesla Cybertruck, GMC electric Hummer, Ford electric F- 150, etc.
Although these pure electric pickups are not necessarily suitable for everyone, their arrival is very helpful to improve the fuel consumption performance of the entire pickup market segment. At least they can get rid of the bad hat of zero-emission "environmental killer" iDailycar
This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.