New Standards Would Increase Gas Mileage 25% by 2015

Image Gallery Given impending increases to CAFE (corporate average fuel economy) standards, all cars will become more fuel-efficient, and there will be more superefficient models, such as the Toyota Yaris. The question is how high will regulators push the new CAFE benchmarks? TOYOTA MOTOR CO.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) proposed new fuel economy standards on April 22 that will result in a 25 percent increase in fuel economy by 2015. The proposed new Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards apply to cars and light trucks — pickups, vans, and SUVs — starting with vehicles in model year 2011, most of which will go on sale in late 2010. The proposed standards increase fuel economy by 4.5 percent per year for five years, ending with model year 2015. For passenger cars, the proposal would increase fuel economy from the current 27.5 miles per gallon (mpg) to 35.7 mpg by 2015. For light trucks, the proposal calls for increases from 23.5 mpg in 2010 to 28.6 mpg in 2015.

The proposed standards are the first step in implementing a 40 percent increase in fuel economy by 2020, as mandated by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. See the DOT press release and the article from this newsletter on the energy act.

If the new standards are put in place as proposed, they will save nearly 55 billion gallons of fuel while cutting roughly 521 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions. Drivers that buy the new vehicles covered by the standards will collectively save more than $100 billion in fuel costs over the lifetime of the vehicles. The DOT's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) will accept comments on the proposed standards for 60 days after their publication in the Federal Register.

In addition, the NHTSA is preparing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to address the potential environmental impacts of the proposed standards and is seeking suggestions on the environmental issues and reasonable alternatives to be addressed in the EIS. The NHTSA is also requesting information from automakers on how they plan to meet the proposed rules. See the full proposal and related documents on the NHTSA Web site.