The internal combustion engine is 100+ year old technology. Having said that, there are numerous ways to make ICE powered cars more environmentally friendly. Instead of driving giant trucks and SUVs, with motors that make 300+ horsepower, people could be driving more fuel efficient versions while we transition to EVs (or a better solution in my opinion: hydrogen). There was an explosion of muscle cars during the last 10-15 years driven by better technology making their huge engines more efficient. The politicians have failed us in this regard. Something like CAFE, but with more stringent requirements, should have been put in place years ago. Americans just don’t want to face this issue. It’s sad that it will take major environmental catastrophe for the US consumer to realize the consequences of their actions.,(reply>), @Don Gately That explains the issue. Just call it realistic then. Stringent means tighten it up even further, exactly the opposite of what you just said here. I still disagree on principle, this kind of way of approaching an issue using politics has a poor track record, but I was expecting something closer to a climate nutter earlier. If we're looking for less restrictive legislation, I'm all for that.<br><br>To that end though, the carrot usually works better than the stick. Kei cars were mentioned, that's the hill I'd defend. Hybrids, there's bias for me personally. I've been burned hard on the Prius (The O.G. "I'm better than you morally," car.) between stupid design choices (WTF is that shifter and WhyTF is that spoiler directly at eye level?) and the fact the batteries are outright disposable, but the simplest way to reduce emissions is to... well... reduce emissions. The Kei car class of vehicles in Japan are a result of tax laws and have hard-capped engine power limitations. Japan also had a mini-SUV craze in the 90's and I know the Daihatsu Move, a 4-door kei car that looks somewhat like a Scion xB, came in an AWD variant in some years. If our problem is big V8's, replacing them with an I3 is in fact a solution for reduced emissions. If you want an actual thing to grasp onto, Mitsubishi released the Mini-Pajero in the 90's, and that would be a more ideal car to mass produce for the US, and it won't be seen as... well... "gay," to use the parlance of my teens when that was the universal response everyone actually into cars at the time described a Prius as. With the US's import laws sunsetting for the 1990's, importing Kei cars and encouraging legislation for them at least in cities seems like a sound solution.,(reply>), @Harley Mitchelly I’m in Northeast Ohio - in the snow belt outside of Cleveland so I hear ya. I said something like CAFE but more stringent -aka - realistic. There’s a fossil fuel bridge available to get us to the next technology but it needs common sense implementation; something that’s unlikely in the present day USA.,(reply>), Uhhh... CAFE made the problem worse.<br><br>It basically outmoded this wonderful thing called the station wagon... and pushed people to SUVs as CAFE had a necessary loophole for trucks. SUVs use truck frames, ergo get classified as trucks, or people bought multiple cars. Vehicular safety also went down as cars shrunk, meaning there was less car to take the punishment in an accident and the squishy meat-bags inside needed to take more of it. You will never see a full-blown people-hauler station wagon get as popular as they were back in the 60's because to make one, you'd need to build a car and get shafted by the regs. I don't want to face the issue because we did and it blew up in our faces already. The crossover SUV exists and the universal hate for it perpetuates because it lets you haul people and goods with 4WD and car companies can skirt emissions regulations with it. An Abilene Paradox where everyone asked for something and no one gets what they really want. A classic 60's station wagon with a modern engine, lift kit, and 4WD conversion would universally be more popular, but the frame designation forces that into much more stringent car emissions territory, so the likes of the AMC Eagle will likely never return. Ditto for mini-vans, and if Chrysler didn't screw up their systems, the only thing I'd blame for the 4WD minivan not being more popular is CAFE regulations and it being a car-chassis.<br><br>Bottom line, I live in Wisconsin. The roads become a living nightmare in winter. You need engine power, and you need efficiency-sapping 4WD/AWD SUVs/Trucks as ground clearance and all four wheels having drive power are almost mandatory in ice and snow. Anything less will fail to clear more than a few driveways in this state, let alone hills if the plows aren't on top of their game, which they more often than not are not because of how brutal the winters are. Trying to push green here will get you more people with dick-compensation trucks installing coal-burners because they already hate you and you're giving them more of an excuse to give you the middle finger. Literally the best thing you can do is kick CAFE to the curb while pushing allowances for Japanese Kei Cars onto US roads. The Mitsubishi Mini-Pajero was built for what you want, but it won't get here because no one going-green things of proper incremental changes like this.