The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is following in the footsteps of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in easing its fuel economy standards from its original proposals back in Summer 2023.
According to a report from Automotive News, the automotive safety regulator has lowered fuel economy standards to an average fleet fuel economy of 50.4 mpg by the 2031 model year. These new corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards will require a 2-percent improvement in fuel efficiency for cars from the 2027 to 2031 model year, along with another 2-percent improvement for trucks from the 2029 to 2031 model years.
It’s worth noting that the NHTSA is prohibited from considering the fuel economy of electric vehicles when determining its standards, yet must include them when calculating compliance.
For reference, the NHTSA’s Summer 2023 proposal had light-duty cars and trucks reaching an average fleet fuel economy of 58 mpg by the 2032 model year.
Likely to little surprise, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation – a trade organization that represents major automakers like General Motors – stated that the final standards appear to address concerns that the EPA’s and NHTSA’s standards were not in tandem with one another.
“Should an automaker be considered in violation of CAFE rules and subject to billions of dollars in civil penalties if it complies with the standards established by EPA’s new greenhouse gas rules? No, they shouldn’t,” Alliance for Automotive Innovation CEO John Bozzella declared in a prepared statement. “CAFE’s a relic of the 1970s – a policy to promote energy conservation and energy independence by making internal combustion vehicles more efficient. But those vehicles are already very efficient. And EVs? They don’t combust anything. They don’t even have a tailpipe.”
Although the NHTSA didn’t give any reasoning as to why it elected to take a step back on CAFE regulations, it likely has to do with the slower-than-expected EV adoption. That, coupled with a lacking charging infrastructure, continues to weigh on the push towards an all-electric U.S. fleet.
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Comments
More government overreach, just say NO!
Vote them out….oh wait….these are Un-elected, Biden-appointed Bureaucrats running the NHTSA and the EPA and helping destroy America.
It is more than elections and Bureaucrats. They now have activist in the NHTSA and EPA. These people do not leave after an election and are protected from being fired.
These are the people that need removed some how. They are reinterpreting law to match their own agendas and not passing them through the house and senate like they should be.
Look up the RPM act.
why do the vote counts reset to zero?
Yes, how dare they LOOSEN the requirements? How dare they LOWER the CAFE number by 8mpg? READ the article, not the headline.
The companies need to stop complying. Good luck trying to keep the economy going when all manufacturers stop building and selling cars in the US.
Sorry it does not work like that as companies can be fined millions of dollars for no compliance for simple things and billions for major things.
To stop building and selling would kill these companies with in weeks. They can not afford to hold out. Also the Share holders would not stand for it either.
Ah, yes, the Toddler Maneuver. Hold our breath until we get what we want? Classic.
Lacking changing infrastructure? Every home has electrical outlets and any EV can charge overnight while the owner sleeps. Many gasoline stations will install charging stations soon. And some owners, such as myself, can charge for free at home. There is no such limit since most EVs can travel with a full charge as far as gasoline cars can with a full tank.
And you are another obvious, Paid TROLL for the EV/Lithium Industry as evidenced by your LIES ! You PAY for the Kwh used from your electric Utility your Energy Hog EV sucks up at your home overnight….it is not “FREE”! “most EV’s can travel with a full charge as far as gasoline cars can with a full tank” is ANOTHER LIE from the usual source….a sheep like EWE !
Even if they can travel as far, I can fill up my gas car in 10 minutes. Not go from 30% to 80% in several hours like Mr ev guy.
I have a 50 year old Chevy truck that holds the same amount of gas it did when it was new in 1974. It’s running on its original engine and transmission. There’s no way an EV could possibly last this long. Even teslas only have 70% of capacity they advertised when you buy it new! My truck has the same (100%!) capacity it’s had since Carter was in office. (Wait, seems like Carter is in office again, we’ve come full circle)
You charge for free at home? Who pays your electricity bill?
I might buy one of your toxic EVs if you can get me free electricity at home.
Take your BS back to the ev boards where people believe it
He’s also said he lives in Puerto Rico, where 94% of electricity comes from fossil fuels. Puerto Rico consumes almost 70 times more energy than it produces.
Exactly when was the last time you had any say-so, control or input over the actions of the Bureaucrats running the NHTSA or the horrible, out-of-control EPA ???? Any idea how many, many Thousands of Dollars their tyranny has added to the cost of our Vehicles to make them be priced to where they are today ? These Federal Bureaucracies are a poison to America and their Dictators and actions must be brought under Voter Control before they ruin ALL of us. Congress is too slow, conflicted and divided to do anything worthwhile about these Party-appointed bureaucrats so changes must be made. This is another obvious Government “ploy” to force ALL Americans to buy the disliked EV’s
Not to mention the hundreds of thousands of US jobs they cost.
Another reason to vote for trump
Absolutely, Vote for Freedom not Mandate.
Nearly 50 years of CAFE and no meaningful accomplishments….all reflective of the decades long clown show in D.C. what a joke! Same bozo’s want to go after our stoves, air conditioners, etc…
No on is going after gas stoves. The media took a study by Stanford University on gas stoves and turned it into a MAGA boogeyman. Yes, gas stoves emit carcinogens, just like all the other gas appliances we use daily. The only difference is we don’t vent gas stoves to the outside like we do water heaters and furnaces. That’s ALL the study pointed out. NO ONE said “Let’s take their stoves!” NO ONE.
Does my butt need a catalytic converter because I pass gas? LOL Give it time. That will be the next mandate. LOL LMAO.
Did anyone read the article – they eased the regulation, they didn’t make it more strict. And the compliance calculation used your hybrid/EV fleet numbers so you can actually reach the goal.
Side note:
So, I guess Biden’s team looked at the EV numbers, determined there’s a slow compliance, and adjusted the goal to fit the trend. But somehow this is all a reason to vote for Trump? I hate how politics has pushed its way into everything on this site. I lease a Wrangler 4xe. I wasn’t even looking for one, I just got a good deal on it so I tried it. I am so glad I did – I save a ton of money on gas because I charge every night and my cost to charge is way less than gas. So let’s not get all upset about EVs and hybrids when they actually do save the consumer money under the right circumstances.
OH hey now, what’s with all the common sense and assumption that the average GMAuthority “readers” have any sort of reading comprehension skills? LOL
Yeah, I won’t vote for Frump because of his giving in to the Taliban. What a spit in the face of all of my veteran brothers and sisters that fought that right-wing Islamic Theocracy for 20 years. That coupled with the $8 Trillion in debt he created by giving his “rich” groupies a permanent tax break while the people who actually pay taxes got one for a couple years. But yes, to those fools who are his base, let’s just focus on what it means for our cars. Another 4 years of identity politics and culture wars vs. actually moving America forward? No thanks.
what’s the MPG of the tanks we send to Ukraine?
What’s the MPG of the presidental limousine?? All this mandate to do time in one of them EV pos for us and Them people do what they want. How many of Them committed to an EV? Let’s see the stats. (unaltered of course)