EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT

DATE: 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013

EVENT: “Automotive Product Portfolios in the Age of CAFE”

The University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute brings together experts from industry, government and academia to discuss how vehicles and technologies are changing in the face of new corporate average fuel economy standards that will require a manufacturer’s fleet of vehicles to average 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025.

“Manufacturers began making major changes to their fleets as early as 2006 as North American auto shows began featuring smaller European vehicles and new powertrain technologies,” said conference moderator Bruce Belzowski, an auto industry analyst at UMTRI. “Each year since then has brought continued new powertrain entries, fuel efficient updates to current powertrains, and numerous introductions of more fuel efficient vehicles.”
Speakers include:

• Nancy Homeister, manager of fuel economy regulatory strategy at Ford Motor Co., will describe her company’s efforts over the past six years to implement a strategy to meet more stringent fuel economy standards.

• Alexander Freitag, director of engineering systems development at Bosch Corp., will discuss how the new CAFE regulations have changed his company’s product portfolio.

• Kevin Green, chief of the Energy Technology Division at the Volpe Center for the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, will talk about modeling of technologies and vehicle changes his group performed for NHTSA as part of the development of the 2025 CAFE regulations.

• Jeff Alson, senior engineer at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, will talk about EPA’s projected technology pathways for meeting future CAFE/GHG standards, as well as recent EPA data about how the technology marketplace is already beginning to change.

• John German, senior fellow at the International Council on Clean Transportation will pull from his work with Honda and his recent work with the ICCT to talk about how CAFE will change vehicle fleets in the future in terms of the types of vehicles and new technologies.

–Brandon Schoettle, project manager at UMTRI, will describe the institute’s Eco-Driving Index that analyzes the monthly changes in overall fuel economy of the new vehicle fleet in the U.S.

–Todd Lassa, executive editor of automobile magazine, will provide his insight into current and future manufacturer product plans.

PLACE: Michigan League Ballroom (2nd floor), 911 North University Ave., Ann Arbor

SPONSOR: U-M Office of the Vice President for Research

INFORMATION: http://www.umtri.umich.edu/divisionPage.php?pageID=265

CONTACT: Bruce Belzowski, UMTRI, (734) 936-2704, [email protected]