2022 Was America’s Most Fuel-Efficient Year Ever

It’s taken the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency some time, but a massive report on 2022’s state of the automotive industry is out, and unsurprisingly, last year was America’s most fuel-efficient ever. Average real-world new vehicle fuel economy jumped to a new high of 26 MPG, and while that doesn’t seem like a massive figure at first glance, it’s one impressive feat to achieve considering everything that comes with it.

It’s no secret that fuel economy and mass often operate inversely — as cars, trucks, and SUVs get bigger and heavier, efficiency goes down if identical powertrain technology is used. Unsurprisingly, given the shrinking market of sedans and small hatchbacks, the average new vehicle is heavier than it’s ever been, and the average vehicle footprint has climbed noticeably since 2008. However, technology isn’t equal, because manufacturers have been busy with a range of fuel-efficient technologies from transmissions with many gears to full-on battery electric vehicles.

Here’s a nifty chart detailing exactly which automotive manufacturers, categorized by major groups, use which technologies. The hybrid category gets a bit weird, as the EPA counts 48-volt mild hybrid systems as hybrids, even though they can’t propel themselves on electric power alone. Perhaps unsurprisingly, BMW gets a huge lift in this category due to fitment of 48-volt systems on many of its popular models like the M340i and X5 40i. It’s a similar deal with Mercedes-Benz, with 30 percent of that marque’s fleet having some form of electric assistance.

Also interesting: Mazda, Tesla, and Subaru are the only three manufacturers to use a single piece of fuel-efficient powertrain technology on the EPA’s list in every car sold. Obviously, all Teslas are EVs, but all Mazdas and Subarus use direct injection or a combination of direct and port injection. In fact, this is the one fuel-efficient technology every manufacturer can seem to agree with, since 73 percent of all vehicles produced in 2022 use direct injection in some way. The lowest take rate? Well, it’s still EVs, plug-in hybrids, and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, with only seven percent of all vehicles produced last year using those technologies. According to the EPA, those advanced-fuel vehicles “are projected to reach 12% of production in model year 2023,” so it looks like we’ll just have to hold onto our hats and see if that number’s met.

Speaking of technologies, the EPA report shows just how much drivetrains have changed over the past few years. All-wheel-drive or four-wheel-drive is the new normal, with a whopping 59.6 percent of vehicles produced for America in 2022 being able to send power to every tire. For a bit of “the world you were born in no longer exists” perspective,  all-wheel drive and four-wheel drive only accounted for 26.8 percent of new vehicle drivetrain layouts in 2005.

Now hang on a second — weren’t the corporate average fuel economy standards for 2022 targeting 48.2 MPG for passenger cars and 34.2 MPG for light trucks? How is an average of 26 MPG a good thing? Well, it’s because CAFE is terribly misleading. While much has been said about the footprint model that holds larger vehicles to lower efficiency standards, and the light truck loophole that lets automakers classify certain crossovers as light trucks to meet lower fuel economy standards, there’s a whole lot more going on here than that. For instance, CAFE only uses two-cycle testing for its emissions targets, which means the fuel economy figures targeted by CAFE aren’t indicative of the five-cycle fuel economy numbers on window stickers. As a result, you end up with the optimistic figures in the charts below that illustrate changes in emissions between 2012 and 2022.

And the second-place finisher for the most fuel-efficient passenger car lineup is …Volvo. Pretty wild, right? Also, the reason why the all-makes-combined total numbers don’t quite make sense is because people are replacing their cars with SUVs, pickup trucks, and crossovers. Considering that a good chunk of Generation X came of age when the SUV started to wage war on the minivan, and that Gen X is now in its prime buying power years, this shift towards bigger vehicles makes sense.

Now, let’s talk for a second about performance credits, which can be used to boost an automaker’s CAFE numbers. If a manufacturer uses more efficient or more leak-resistant air conditioning systems, it can get performance credits to offset some tailpipe emissions. Oh, and it gets wilder. Above is a menu of various other things automakers can use to gain performance credits, laid out by automaker and rate of implementation. If a manufacturer uses LED headlights, those can cut emissions in the eyes of the government. It’s the same thing with better glass, fancy grille shutters, cooled seats, and transmission heat exchangers. Sure, each of these pieces of secondary tech may only amount to a few grams per mile of CO2 off of an automaker’s chest, but every gram counts.

Now, the CAFE program primarily hinges on a credit/deficit mechanism, where automakers that come in below thresholds generate positive credits, and automakers that exceed emissions limits find themselves in the red. However, credits can be sold by especially green automakers to especially polluting automakers to ensure overall compliance, and the big winner here is Tesla. The EV marque has sold more than 90 teragrams of CO2 credits, and to put that into perspective, the Great Pyramid of Giza weighs about six teragrams. Look, whether or not this is a good thing is debatable, but it’s definitely happening.

However, a rise in real world fuel economy is a good thing, especially since it hasn’t come at a cost to performance. We’re not in another malaise era yet, and EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan seems to pat everyone on the back in a media release, stating:

We are thrilled to see manufacturers continue to innovate and develop technologies in multiple vehicle categories that have led to a substantial increase in miles per gallon, passing cost savings onto families across the nation.

Hold on, “passing cost savings onto families across the nation” is one hell of a thing to say when the average transaction price of a new car sat $9,653 higher in November 2022 than it did in November 2019. At the current LA County average gas price of $4.715 per gallon as per ABC 7, that price difference could buy 2,047.29 gallons of fuel. Saving fuel is a noble pursuit, but maybe we shouldn’t act like this new fuel economy high counteracts the massive vehicle price increases seen over the past few years. Still, most fuel-efficient year ever. How about that?

(Oh, and in case you’re wondering about the Alfa Romeo at the top of this article: an all-wheel-drive Giulia has an EPA combined fuel economy rating of 26 MPG, precisely the same as the average new-vehicle fuel economy figure. That’s nerdy, even by my standards.)

(Photo credits: EPA)

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