NHTSA proposes cutting fuel use almost in half by 2035
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration plans to cut vehicle fuel consumption almost in half by 2035, according to new proposed Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards released Friday by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The rules would once again increase fuel efficiency, pushing car companies to meet an estimated 58 mile per gallon average fuel economy by model year 2032. It would require automakers to improve fuel efficiency by 2% every year for cars and 4% per year for light trucks beginning in model year 2027.
The proposed standards also would increase fuel economy standards for heavy duty pickup trucks and work vans by 10% annually model years
2030 to 2035. Combined, NHTSA estimates that the country’s total fleet fuel consumption would be cut by 48% by model year 2035.
Comparatively, a 2022 rulemaking bumped up the existing standard to 49 miles per gallon fleetwide by model year 2026, with 8% efficiency increases in model years 2024 and 2025 and a 10% increase in model year 2026.
For model year 2023, passenger cars must get
50.5 miles to the gallon and light duty trucks must get 35.8 miles to the gallon.
The agency can’t consider electric vehicles or alternative fuels in determining whether automakers can feasibly comply with the rules, but car companies can use EVS to meet the requirements — meaning regulators believe car companies could meet the requirements even if they were not pivoting to EVS. NHTSA estimates the proposed standards would result in an estimated 56% EV market penetration by 2032, Acting Administrator Ann Carlson said Friday.
“These targets are consistent with Congress’ direction to conserve fuel and promote American energy independence and American auto manufacturing,” Carlson said.
The agency’s proposal would save Americans more than 88 billion gallons of gas from now until 2050, she said, an estimated $52 billion in savings.
The rules account for “significant improvements in technology over the last 10 and 15 years. We look at the availability and innovation that’s taken place in the automotive sector and it’s truly staggering,” said White House Climate Advisor
Ali Zaidi. “The United
States has gone from really chasing on this technological shift that’s taking place to becoming the literal number one destination for private investment on EVS.”
The administration intended to develop a set of standards “that is certain, reliable, common sense, and that continues to” accelerate EV investments in the United States, Zaidi said.
NHTSA’S plan uses a new method proposed by the Department of Energy to calculate fuel economy that would make it harder for automakers to meet the standards. The current calculation strategy hasn’t been changed in more than 20 years.
The costs to automakers will vary by manufacturer, NHTSA said, but the agency is legally bound to consider “technological feasibility and economic practicability” when determining the rule, Carlson said.
The proposal aligns with proposed Environmental Protection Agency emissions standards unveiled in April that would be the strongest in U.S. history and push automakers to sell more than two-thirds EVS by 2032.
Those rules were praised by environmental and consumer groups but received a torrent of criticism from automakers and Republicans, who argue they would function as a de facto EV mandate. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a lobbying group representing most major automakers selling vehicles in the United States, called them “neither reasonable nor achievable.” NHTSA’S proposal is expected to receive similar blowback.
In a July 17 meeting with the White House, General Motors Co. Vice President for Global Regulatory Affairs David Strickland argued that even if automakers met the EPA’S metric of 67% new car sales being electric by 2032, it would still result in a compliance gap with CAFE standardmosting the industry $100 billion in penalties.
Carlson said the agency does “not agree in any way” with GM’S analysis. Zaidi called it “inexplicable” and “not grounded in anything resembling what the proposed rule is.”
If automakers did not use EVS to comply with the standards, Carlson said, the agency estimates total penalties in 2031 would be around $2.4 billion. If automakers do use EVS to comply, they estimate there would be no penalties.