US Senate`s nod to improve cars` fuel efficiency
The us Senate recently approved a bill that requires cars to burn 30 per cent less fuel by the year 2020. If it becomes a law, the bill will be the first efficiency increase imposed on the us car industry for nearly 20 years. The bill requires an improvement in the average efficiency of new us vehicles from around 10.6 km per litre (km/l) now to around 14.9 km/l.
Environmentalists have long been lobbying to get the standards increased. They claim the limit was not as they had hoped but was an acceptable compromise with the car industry.