The Environmental Protection Agency will issue revised fuel consumption standards by the end of July, new EPA administrator Michael Regan said, limiting Trump-era reforms that set the emission limit for cars and light trucks by the 2026 model year. revised standards, he added, are to mitigate the climate effects.
The new standards for fuel efficiency will have to be significantly stricter than those issued by the Trump-era EPA, which only finalized its rules in March 2020 after a 1.5-year process. These limits require an annual increase in efficiency of 1.5 percent by 2026 instead of the 5 percent target under the Obama era. Fuel efficiency standards in the US are overseen by both the EPA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, an agency of the Department of Transportation.
“We take a good look at what science encourages us to do. We’re looking at where technologies are, ‘Regan said in an interview with Bloomberg News. “We marry with our regulatory policies and what we have the legal authority to do with where science directs us and where the markets and technology are.”
Although Regan does not mention any specific numbers, he did not rule out the emission limits that would force the phasing out of fossil fuel vehicles. To achieve this, the number would probably be around 60-70 miles per liter combined, according to the EPA method, which appears on the Monroney stickers of new cars. Today’s gas-powered cars struggle to crack a combined 40 mpg, and hybrids struggle to get more than 60 mpg together. The least efficient electric vehicle, on the other hand, the Porsche Taycan, gets an equivalent of 69 mpg.
Sell credits
The current limits require the country’s fleet-wide average to be 40.4 mpg by 2026, much less than the Obama-era 54.5 mpg. These numbers are regulatory in nature – they do not reflect what consumers see in the real world, or what appears on the window sticker. To get their points, car manufacturers can sell cars and trucks that pollute significantly more than the average. Companies that perform below average can buy credits from companies with a surplus. Tesla, for example, sold credits to the then Fiat Chrysler and GM. (Certain vehicles, including very heavy trucks such as the Ford F-250, are exempt from fuel consumption standards).
The weakening of standards under Trump was partly the result of lobbying by carmakers, who wrote a letter to Trump’s transition team a few days after the election calling on the EPA and NHTSA to coordinate emissions limits. The companies claim that low gas prices and weak demand for electric vehicles make it nearly impossible to reach the Obama targets. The Trump administration is obliged to review the regulations and make a tortuous argument in favor of weakening emission limits. The lower standards, the government said, would ultimately save lives by allowing carmakers to build cheaper vehicles that would allow consumers to buy new models earlier, which would likely better protect them in an accident.
Today, however, the picture has changed significantly. Some states and U.S. states have announced the phasing out of fossil fuel vehicles in 2035 or 2040, depending on the jurisdiction. Car manufacturers are announcing or introducing dozens of new electric models, and EV sales are growing faster than the overall market.
Regan seems to be leaning heavily on the idea that EVs will give the US a way out of its carbon-intensive transportation sector. “It’s a false option to choose between economic development and prosperity and environmental protection,” he said.