Trump Administration Announces New Approach to Automotive Fuel Economy Standards
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy announced that the federal government will no longer adhere to the Biden Administration's interpretation of rules governing how the Department of Transportation (DOT) sets Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards.
Legally, the DOT cannot consider electric vehicles, fuel cell vehicles, natural gas, or other alternative automotive technologies when determining a fuel economy standard that is both economically practical and technologically feasible. The Biden Administration used the existence of more stringent EV mandates in some states to justify raising CAFE standards. They argued that those state regulations would lead to more EVs, which informed the Biden Administration's analysis of what vehicles would comprise the national vehicle fleet in the absence of CAFE standards, but not inform rules they set regarding how automakers could remain in compliance.
In this recently announced decision, the Trump Administration essentially rebuffed the previous administration's interpretation as playing with semantics to skirt the law. The new administration is expected to set new CAFE standards for vehicles through 2031 in the near future.
Click here to read the DOT's official press release on this policy change.