New cars sold in the U.S. will have to get an average of 38 miles per gallon of gasoline in real-world driving by 2031, up from about 29 miles per gallon this year, according to new federal rules announced by the Biden administration on Friday.
According to requirements released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the final rules would result in a 2 percent annual improvement in fuel economy for passenger cars from model years 2027 to 2031, and a 2 percent annual improvement in fuel economy for SUVs and other light trucks from model years 2029 to 2031.
The final numbers are as follows: The proposal announced last year.
Administration officials said the relaxed regulations would give the auto industry flexibility to focus on electric vehicles, adding that tougher fuel economy standards would not provide enough fuel savings and would impose too much burden on consumers.
As part of his efforts to combat climate change, President Biden has set a goal of half of all new cars sold in the United States by 2030 being electric vehicles.
Gasoline-powered vehicles are the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States.
The 50% figure would represent a significant increase from current EV sales, which rose from 5.8% of new vehicle sales last year to 7.6%, before growing to 5.8% by 2022.
Though Biden is a proponent of electric vehicles, as a Democrat seeking reelection in November he needs the cooperation of the auto industry and the political support of autoworkers, a key political voting bloc.
The United Auto Workers union supports Biden but says it wants to ensure the transition to electric vehicles doesn’t result in job losses and that the industry pays top wages to workers making EVs and batteries.
Former President Donald Trump and other Republicans are seen as potential opponents of Biden. Biden’s push for EVs criticized as unfair to consumers This is an example of government abuse of power.
The Biden administration said the new standards would save about 70 billion gallons of gasoline by 2050 and prevent more than 710 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions by the middle of the century.
“This new standard will not only save Americans money on gas every time they fill up, it will also reduce harmful pollution and decrease our dependence on foreign oil,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement. “This standard will save car owners more than $600 on gas over the life of their vehicle.”
The National Highway Safety Administration said it is working to bring its regulations into line with the new regulations. EPA imposes tougher rules on emissions.
But if there are any conflicts, automakers will likely have to comply with the strictest regulations.
In the complex world of government regulation, both agencies are essentially responsible for setting fuel economy requirements, because the quickest way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is to burn less gasoline.
The fuel economy figures used by the Associated Press reflect real-world driving conditions, including factors such as wind resistance, hills and the use of air conditioning.
These factors result in actual figures being lower than the fuel economy standards put forward by NHTSA.
“This new fuel economy standard will save our nation billions of dollars, help reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and ensure cleaner air for everyone,” said NHTSA Deputy Administrator Sophie Schulman.
John Bozzella, president and CEO of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a major industry group, said the Biden administration “appears to have developed CAFE regulations that align with other recent federal emissions regulations.”
Bozzella used an acronym for the fuel standard formally known as the Corporate Average Fuel Economy Rule.
“At some point, we’re going to have to have a conversation about whether we really need CAFE (standards) in a world where the vehicle fleet is becoming increasingly electrified,” Bozzella added.
Fuel economy standards are “a relic from the 1970s,” Bozzella said. “They’re meant to promote energy independence and energy conservation by making internal combustion engines more efficient. But internal combustion engines are already very efficient. And EVs don’t burn anything. They don’t even have tailpipes.”
Dan Becker of the environmental group Center for Biological Diversity blasted the new rules as not going far enough.
He said the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is supposed to set tough standards for gasoline-powered vehicles, “but instead it’s leaving gasoline-powered vehicles’ tailpipes alone, giving automakers free reign to build fuel-guzzling, polluting cars, SUVs and pickup trucks for decades to come, and helping to steer America away from its dependence on oil.”
The administration “caved to pressure from automakers and enacted a weak rule that only requires a 2 percent annual improvement in fuel economy,” Becker said, adding that the rule doesn’t meet the agency’s requirement to set fuel economy standards at the highest level technically feasible.
NHTSA said the rule includes 10 percent annual improvements for commercial pickup trucks and work vans.
Automakers can meet the requirement through a combination of efficiency improvements in electric vehicles, gas-electric hybrids and gas and diesel vehicles.
