By SEMA Washington, D.C., Staff
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has issued stricter Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for new vehicles for model years ’24–’26. The new standards increase fuel efficiency 8% per year for cars and light trucks in the ’24 and ’25 model years, and 10% for the ’26 model year. The CAFE standards now require an industry-wide fleet average of approximately 49 mpg in the ’26 model year.
This new rule comes after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last December issued a final rule to set more stringent new vehicle greenhouse gas emissions for MY ’23–’26. The NHTSA and EPA rules have been harmonized in some areas to give automakers guidance and flexibility in meeting both standards. The rules are interrelated since the primary chemical regulated under the greenhouse gas rule, carbon dioxide, is released in the same proportion to the amount of carbon-based fuel that is burned. Additional information on CAFE standards can be found on the NHTSA website.
For more information, contact Caroline Fletcher at carolinef@sema.org.