The federal government’s war on fuel efficiency claimed another victim today. The Department of Transportation released a new rule for the country’s Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards, which, as expected, discourage the very idea of economical vehicles. Among the changes is a rollback to fuel economy numbers not seen in more than a decade, beloweven the low standards implemented in 2020, the last time President Trump was in power. The new goal is just 34.9 mpg by model year 2031.
This is nothing if not expected. When Sean Duffy was installed as Transportation secretary last January,he immediately announcedthat any fuel efficiency standards put in place under the Biden administration were dead and buried. Those rules hada slower ramp upthan some might have liked but would have required automakers to sell many more electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids.
Now, we may have the possibility of some OEMs dropping their EVs and PHEVs entirely. Thenotice of final rulemakingcriticizes the idea of emissions credits and blames them for automakers not investing in cleaner engine technology, and from model year 2028, such credits are a thing of the past. And plug-in vehicles will now no longer be included in an automaker’s fleet average; under previous rules an EV or PHEV could have a CAFE ratingof hundreds of mpg.
Then again, since last year, Duffy’s department hasn’t exactly been proactive about enforcing the existing rules.In July last yearit told automakers that it was not going to bother fining any of them for exceeding the CAFE limits, going back as far as 2022.
