Government Shouldn’t Decide What Cars Run On

Nicolas Loris / June 07, 2011

With gas prices hovering at $4 per gallon, politicians are trying to sell quick fixes that will inevitably end up hurting consumers. The latest attempt is an open fuel standard that would require a certain percentage of new vehicles to be flex-fuel (a combination of gasoline and ethanol or methanol), electric, natural gas, biofuels, or any other power source that is an alternative to your traditional internal combustion engine.

Policymakers will attempt to convince the public that open fuel standards encourage competition and will benefit consumers. Consumers won’t be paying such high prices at the pump and Americans will be buying less foreign oil. Moreover, the additional cost for each vehicle will be marginal. As opposed to promoting one technology (such as electric vehicles or natural gas vehicles), an open fuel standard does not pick winners or losers. (more…)