Trump Stops Biden Fuel-Efficiency Rules, Cutting New-Car Costs
The Transportation Department has rolled back Biden administration fuel-efficiency standards for vehicles as part of the Trump administration’s agenda to overturn policies that boost electric vehicle sales
The department announced Monday that it has finalized a rule that would overturn the Biden administration’s corporate average fuel economy standards.
The Trump administration has criticized these rules as being an overly costly effort to prop up EVs in the name of combating ‘climate change’.
“While Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg pushed a green agenda that made our roads less safe and drove up costs for hardworking Americans, this administration is delivering relief to families and reviving the beating heart of American manufacturing,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a press release.
“With our common-sense standards in place, we are making the American dream affordable again, putting safer cars on the road, and investing in the American autoworker,” Duffy added.
The CAFE standards require automakers to meet fuel-efficiency targets for all cars and light trucks to help reduce energy consumption, cost, and emissions.
The Biden administration’s fuel economy standards would allow light-duty vehicles to reach an average of 50.4 mpg by model year 2031. They also allow automakers to improve their fleet’s fuel-economy average by manufacturing more electric vehicles and hybrids.
However, the Trump administration’s final rule would achieve a fleet-average fuel economy of 34.9 mpg by model year 2031, far from the 50.4 mpg envisioned under the Biden rules.
It would also scrap a trading program scheduled to begin in 2028, which would effectively allow electric vehicle makers to sell credits to other manufacturers who fell short of meeting the fuel efficiency requirements.
The rollback will reduce the average cost of a new vehicle by $1,300 and give automakers the flexibility to manufacture cars that buyers want, according to the DOT.
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