The Contribution of Consumers:
Engaging on the Road and in the Marketplace
Success ultimately hinges on consumers and their purchasing decisions. Consumer engagement is the link that takes us beyond simply manufacturing energy-efficient vehicles to actually achieving broad deployment of these vehicles into our national fleet. To reduce CO2, consumers will need to buy energy-efficient technologies in large volumes.
Ecodriving plays a role in CO2 reductions. Automakers support ecodriving globally to educate drivers on techniques to reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions, which can also improve road safety and provide vehicle integrated solutions that report on efficient driving. Ecodriving refers to both driving and vehicle maintenance practices. One of the greatest benefits of ecodriving is that it reduces CO2 from all vehicles on the road today, not just new vehicles. Ecodriving projects within the European Union have, for example, shown a long-lasting fuel-efficiency effect of up to 10 percent.
The marketplace will advance Sustainable Mobility. While the vehicle fleet of the future may include many of the advanced technology vehicles being developed and introduced today, we should expect – and accept – that some of them will fail. The market should be allowed to weigh variables such as cost, quality, reliability, and risk. Government should allow for market competition between the technology options that emerge. The best policies are based on performance metrics rather than technology mandates, allowing markets—and markets are simply consumers–to find optimal, least-cost solutions while maximizing the well-being of the public.
