Americans love big, fast, powerful appliances more than ever. Four decades of horsepower, MPG, 0-60 acceleration, size and weight.
By wolf richter For wolf street,
The EPA Automotive Trends Report for 2022 was released today, which includes final data for the 2021 model year and preliminary data for the 2022 model year. It boils down to this: faster, more powerful, more fuel efficient, heavier, and bigger (and they’re a lot more expensive because the money is there, laugh out loud And laugh out loud,
The EPA collects this data from automakers for vehicles produced for the US market. The report divides vehicles into five basic types: sedans, crossovers (a small SUV on a sedan chassis, which the report calls a “car SUV”), minivans, pickups and “truck SUVs” (SUVs that are close in weight or chassis). for a truck than for a car).
More Efficient: MPG has jumped the most in 10 years.
Overall miles per gallon increased by 0.9 mpg, up to a record 26.4 mpg in 2022, the largest year-over-year increase in 10 years (red line). Part of this was improving the fuel efficiency of each vehicle, and part of it was a shift to fuel-efficient models and the mix of powertrains and EVs in the 2022 model year in response to gasoline price increases. Late last year and early this year. The sedan averaged 33.7 mpg (green) and the pickup averaged 20.1 mpg (black).
Horsepower: You can never have too much power?
Overall average horsepower in the 2022 model year, depending on the mix it was produced and sold in the US, jumped to a record 272 hp from 252 hp in the previous model year. This 18.9 hp increase was the largest increase ever from one model year to the next.
Since 1980, average horsepower has increased by 167%, up from 102 hp in 1980 (remember those dogs when automakers were struggling to implement emissions controls, catalytic converters, and what not, that At the time there was a decline in the power output of the locomotives?). Horsepower began to rise again in the mid-1980s with fuel injection and electronic engine management systems.
In terms of horsepower, the pickup is king of the hill. The first model year that the pickup’s mix averaged over 300 hp was 2011. For model year 2022, the average was 339 hp. When 600 hp EV pickups are being produced in large enough numbers, they’ll propel those figures into the stratosphere.
The average horsepower of sedans and crossovers has increased over the past two years from 205 hp in 2019 to 214 hp in 2021 and 243 hp in 2022, partly because EVs have taken off, and they have tons of power. For the 2022 model year, more than 7% of all vehicles are EVs, the report estimated, and most of those were sedans and crossovers, and within these types of vehicles, the share of EVs was huge.
performance by automaker, No figures are available yet for the 2022 model year, but today’s report released the final figures for the 2021 model year in terms of weighted average horsepower and 0-60 times (in seconds) by the automaker.
| vehicle manufacturer | Himachal Pradesh | 0 – 60 (Sec.) |
| Tesla | 376 | 4.8 |
| bmw | 299 | 6.3 |
| Mercedes | 304 | 6.6 |
| ford | 299 | 6.9 |
| stellentis | 304 | 7.1 |
| VW | 269 | 7.2 |
| GM | 288 | 7.5 |
| Other | 270 | 7.7 |
| all vehicle manufacturers | 253 | 7.7 |
| Honda | 212 | 7.8 |
| toyota | 224 | 7.8 |
| Kia | 190 | 8.5 |
| Hyundai | 194 | 8.6 |
| Mazda | 197 | 8.8 |
| Nissan | 195 | 9.0 |
| subaru | 195 | 9.1 |
Big, of course.
The overall footprint increased to 51.7 square feet per vehicle for model year 2022, a record in EPA data going back to 2008. Each vehicle type got bigger because Americans like big equipment. The world produces lots of smaller and smaller vehicles, and some are available in the US, but their sales are just a flyspeck compared to the big equipment – ​​no matter how hard the automakers are trying.
The biggest instrument of all are the pickups. Their footprint increased from 62 sq ft to 65.9 sq ft in 2008. The sedan and crossover average about the same and are on the low end of the scale at 47.2 square feet for the sedan, and just a little more for the crossover, but they’ve also got bigger:
Weight: Power, size and luxury weigh some,
More power, 10-speed transmissions, larger vehicles, and more loaded vehicles, the shift from sedans to pickups and “truck SUVs” over the years… well, this stuff weighs. Overall vehicle weight (which the report defines as the empty vehicle weight plus 300 pounds) increased to 4,329 pounds.
There is a wide range of weights within each model, depending on equipment and configuration. For example (using the “curb weight” provided by the manufacturer):
- Ford F-Series pickups range from 4,021 lbs for the base F-150 regular cab, up to 5,800 lbs for the F-150 Raptor, up to 7,500 lbs for the F-250 with diesel.
- The Tesla Model 3 ranges from 3,560 pounds for the base version to 4,180 pounds for the long-range dual-motor all-wheel drive version.
The EPA data here is an average by vehicle type based on the model-year mix produced for delivery in the US. For the 2022 model year, the overall average weight (red line) rises to a record 4,329 pounds. For the pickup, this rises to 5,239 pounds (black line). For the sedan, this rises to 3,628 pounds (green line):
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