by President Trump has announced plans to reset the “costly and unlawful Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards” enacted by the previous administration.
A fact sheet put out by the White House was light on specifics, but said Trump was “returning CAFE standards to levels that can actually be met with conventional gasoline and diesel vehicles.”
They said this stands in contrast to the “unrealistic fuel economy targets” that the Biden Administration had approved, which would have “effectively resulted in an electric vehicle mandate.”
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The White House went on to claim the previous standards were impossible to meet with available technologies for gas cars and would have “compelled widespread shifts to EVs that American consumers did not ask for, accompanied by significant cost-of-living increases.”
They went on to say the average cost of a new car would have risen by nearly $1,000 when compared to the standards announced today.
Speaking of savings, the government said the move will save Americans $109 billion over the next five years. The White House also suggested that by enabling more people to buy newer and safer vehicles, the “reset is projected to save more than 1,500 lives and prevent nearly a quarter-million serious injuries through 2050.”
Big Changes, Less Efficiency
The Department of Transportation was more forthcoming as they revealed the Freedom Means Affordable Cars proposal. It calls for resetting CAFE standards for model years 2022-2031.
The new standards would be “developed without consideration of electric vehicles and credit trading,” and would call for a modest fuel economy increase.
For passenger vehicles, the proposal calls for an increase of 0.5% annually for model years 2023 through 2026. It would then dip to a 0.35% increase for the 2027 model year and a 0.25% increase for the 2029 to 2031 model years.
For light trucks, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is proposing a 0.5% increase for the 2023-2026 model years. It would be followed by a 0.7% increase for 2027, and then a lower 0.25% improvement for the 2029 to 2031 model years.
What the New Math Means
While it’s hard to wrap fuel economy figures around percentages, the Department of Transportation said the proposal would result in a fleet average fuel economy rating of 34.5 mpg by the 2031 model year. CAFE credit trading would also be eliminated in the 2028 model year, significantly hurting EV companies such as Tesla.
Furthermore, the proposal would “reclassify crossovers and small SUVs as passenger automobiles instead of light trucks.” In essence, it’ll be like making vehicles on ‘easy mode.’
Once the proposal is published in the Federal Register, it will kick off a 45-day public comment period. The move will likely prove divisive, but it has become increasingly clear that Americans aren’t ready to go fully electric and the transition will be far more gradual than many proponents hoped for.
