Since taking office earlier this year, Donald Trump has targeted electric vehicle mandates, emissions regulations and the like, either personally or by appointing people to jobs who can have a direct impact on the industry.
One such man is Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Lee Zeldin, who is already trying to deregulate not only the automotive industry but also the wider US.
However, he’s seemingly picked an odd fight, firing off at start-stop engine technology in a social media post.
“Start/stop technology: where your car dies at every red light so companies get a climate participation trophy. EPA approved it, and everyone hates it, so we’re fixing it.”
While we don’t yet know what that “fix” is, the EPA could end up winding back some of its emissions targets to allow vehicles to no longer have start-stop active.
At present, the EPA offers carmakers “off-cycle credits” to incentivise start-stop systems, however they are not a requirement in all new cars sold in the US.
The EPA estimates start-stop systems to reduce a vehicle’s fuel use by about four or five per cent, however the potential savings diminish when vehicles stop less frequently.
Almost all vehicles equipped with stop-start tech have a button which can disable the system, though in a majority of cases it defaults to on unless coding changes have been made.
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