NHTSA Submits Plan For Meeting 2020 CAFE Standard

NHTSA Submits Plan For Meeting 2020 CAFE Standard

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has submitted a proposed schedule  for thel fuel economy increases needed to get to the 35 miles per gallon average required by 2020 under the new energy bill signed into law late last year.

But nobody's saying what those increases will be.
 
An article in today's Detroit News said the proposal, submitted to the White House Office of Management and Budget for review, concerns passenger cars beginning with 2011 models and light trucks starting with 2012 models. 

The newspaper's  report says the regulatory aency has proposed requiring four annual boosts in the average fuel economy to meet the 2020 goal, but that the OMB, which has authority to review all significant federal regulations, could order revisions. NHTSA officials would not disclose any details, but the average for cars is 27.5 miles per gallon now, while trucks are at 22.7 mpg. That means the necessary hikes, spread over just four increases, are going to have to be pretty substantial -- averaging almost two miles per gallon each time for cars, and a little more than three mpg for trucks.

 A NHTSA spokesman said said the agency hpes to clear all the inter-agency reviews and make its proposal public by April for review and comment before a final regulation is issued.

NHTSA began work on the proposal in May after the Supreme Court ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency could  regulate greenhouse gases as tailpipe emissions under the Clean Air Act.

Scott Dogget, Contributor

John O'Dell:  is an AutoObserver Senior Editor. Follow @AutoObserver on Twitter.