The US transportation department is expected to declare fuel economy rules issued under former president Joe Biden exceeded the government's legal authority by including electric vehicles in setting the rules, carmaker officials said on Monday.
Transportation secretary Sean Duffy said the department's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on Friday submitted its interpretive rule, "Resetting the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (Cafe) Programme", to the White House for review.
The previous administration had "illegally used Cafe standards as a backdoor electric vehicle mandate, driving up the prices of cars", he said.
Removing EVs from the calculations for credits and the regulatory mandates could result in lower overall fuel economy requirements.
The NHTSA in June said it would hike Cafe requirements to about 4.67l/100km by 2031 from 6,01l/100km for light-duty vehicles.
Last year, 120 Republican lawmakers said the NHTSA exceeded its authority by adopting fuel economy standards "that effectively mandate EVs while at the same time force the internal combustion engine out of the market."
The lawmakers said the agency "accounted for EVs in its regulatory baseline and factored that baseline into its determination of the maximum achievable Cafe standards".
House Republicans last week proposed killing the EV tax credit and repealing fuel efficiency rules designed to prod carmakers into building more zero-emission vehicles as part of a broad-based tax reform bill.
Federal law requires the NHTSA to set Cafe standards at the maximum feasible level.
The Environmental Protection Agency also plans to reconsider parallel vehicle emissions rules and rescind California's legal authority to ban sales of petrol-only vehicles by 2035. The US Senate this week may take up legislation passed by the House to rescind the approval for California's rules. Carmakers including General Motors and Toyota are aggressively lobbying for repeal.
The NHTSA said last year the rule would reduce petrol consumption by 242,266,354,176 litres and cut emissions by 659-million metric tons. The agency said while some vehicles would be more expensive to buy, consumers would save on fuel costs with estimated net benefits of $35.2bn (R636.67bn).
US expected to declare Biden fuel economy rules exceeded legal authority
Image: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
The US transportation department is expected to declare fuel economy rules issued under former president Joe Biden exceeded the government's legal authority by including electric vehicles in setting the rules, carmaker officials said on Monday.
Transportation secretary Sean Duffy said the department's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on Friday submitted its interpretive rule, "Resetting the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (Cafe) Programme", to the White House for review.
The previous administration had "illegally used Cafe standards as a backdoor electric vehicle mandate, driving up the prices of cars", he said.
Removing EVs from the calculations for credits and the regulatory mandates could result in lower overall fuel economy requirements.
The NHTSA in June said it would hike Cafe requirements to about 4.67l/100km by 2031 from 6,01l/100km for light-duty vehicles.
Last year, 120 Republican lawmakers said the NHTSA exceeded its authority by adopting fuel economy standards "that effectively mandate EVs while at the same time force the internal combustion engine out of the market."
The lawmakers said the agency "accounted for EVs in its regulatory baseline and factored that baseline into its determination of the maximum achievable Cafe standards".
House Republicans last week proposed killing the EV tax credit and repealing fuel efficiency rules designed to prod carmakers into building more zero-emission vehicles as part of a broad-based tax reform bill.
Federal law requires the NHTSA to set Cafe standards at the maximum feasible level.
The Environmental Protection Agency also plans to reconsider parallel vehicle emissions rules and rescind California's legal authority to ban sales of petrol-only vehicles by 2035. The US Senate this week may take up legislation passed by the House to rescind the approval for California's rules. Carmakers including General Motors and Toyota are aggressively lobbying for repeal.
The NHTSA said last year the rule would reduce petrol consumption by 242,266,354,176 litres and cut emissions by 659-million metric tons. The agency said while some vehicles would be more expensive to buy, consumers would save on fuel costs with estimated net benefits of $35.2bn (R636.67bn).
READ MORE:
Mitsubishi decides not to pursue investment in Renault's Ampere
Nissan considering plant closures in SA, Japan: sources
Shareholders demand VW reforms its ‘highly problematic’ governance
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Most read
Latest Videos