U.S. Shifts Into Reverse on Auto and SUV Fuel Economy Standards, But Passenger Autos Will Nonetheless Have to Average 65 MPG by 2031

Photo caption: A 1970s Ford LTD with an EPA fuel-economy rating of 17 mpg (13.83 l/100 km). Today’s sedans average from 27 mpg (10.46 l/100 km) for a Cadillac CT5 to 30 mpg (9.42 l/100 km) for a Toyota Crown.
The Biden administration backed away from its proposal one year ago for a dramatic rise in fuel economy standards for SUVs and pickup trucks, simultaneously causing a deflation in the enthusiasm of climate activists for the president and champagne corks to be popped open in the executive suites of the country’s automakers.
The new CAFE standards for the popular classes of vehicles such as the aforementioned SUVs and pickup trucks will require greater fuel economy, but the end result will be more modest mileage improvements than the administration had called for last year.
The new Department of Transportation rules are intended to prod automobile manufacturers to produce more electric vehicles and they still call for petrol and diesel-powered passenger vehicles to be able to travel a greater distance on each gallon or liter of gasoline. However, the improvements for the industry’s gas-guzzlers will be markedly less than what the DOT had proposed just one year earlier.
Under the latest iteration of the country’s Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards, often referred to as CAFE, the average fuel economy for would average 65 mpg (3.62 l/100 km) by 2031, up from 48.7 mpg (4.83 l/100 km) today.
Meanwhile, all light-duty vehicles overall must meet an average of 50.4 mpg (4.67 l/100 km) in 2031, versus the current 39.1 mpg (6.02 l/100 km) average. Originally, the DOT had said it planned to implement a 55.7 mpg (4.23 l/100 km).
The new CAFE for SUVs and pick-up trucks will be 45 mpg (5.23 l/100 km), up from 35.2 mpg (6.68 l/100 km) at present but less than the 52.5 (4.51 l/100 km) that had been proposed in 2023.
The new rules come on the heels of strict new limits the DOT placed on tailpipe pollution, a move that will ensure the majority of new passenger cars and light trucks sold in the United States are either all-electric or hybrid vehicles by 2032. Currently that figure is just 7.6%.
(Photo: Accura Media Group)