The Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles Rule III for Model Years 2022 to 2031 Passenger Cars and Light Trucks

NHTSA, on behalf of the Department of Transportation (DOT), proposes to substantially recalibrate the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) program to realign this program with Congressional intent. That recalibration includes proposing to amend DOT's fuel economy standards for light-duty vehicles for model years (MYs) 2022- 2026 and MYs 2027-2031. Consistent with statutory requirements, the fuel economy standards proposed in this rule are founded on light-duty vehicles powered by gasoline and diesel fuels, a category that includes non-plug-in hybrid vehicles. In formulating the proposed standards, NHTSA has not considered, consistent with law, the imputed fuel-economy performance of battery-powered electric vehicles (EVs) or the electric operation of vehicles that use plug-in hybrid electric powertrains, nor compliance credits or adjustments to the two-cycle fuel economy test procedures to account for air conditioning and off-cycle technologies. NHTSA also is proposing to eliminate the inter-manufacturer credit trading system and to amend the light-duty vehicle fleet classification system to allocate vehicles into passenger and non-passenger automobile fleets appropriately, based on their attributes and capabilities, starting in MY 2028. Elimination of unlawful considerations, combined with several of the proposed changes, would significantly improve the capabilities of manufacturers to meet fuel economy standards, better align the program with Congressional intent, and reduce manufacturer incentives to design vehicles and add features that are not desired by American consumers and that have questionable real-world fuel economy benefits. NHTSA is therefore proposing to set fuel economy standards that increase from newly proposed MY 2022 standards at a rate of 0.5 percent per year through MY 2026, followed by 0.25 percent per year through MY 2031, with MY 2027 stringency established as a bridge between the two sets of standards. The reduced stringency increases in later years, coupled with a reevaluation of the coefficients that define the functions governing fuel economy standards, are intended to establish maximum feasible standards in a manner that gains real-world fuel-economy-benefits, while enabling the industry to adapt to the proposed substantial recalibration of the CAFE program. NHTSA projects that the amended standards would correspond to the industry fleetwide average for all light-duty vehicles of roughly 34.5 miles per gallon (mpg) in MY 2031.