WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) today announced a final rule for Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for model years 2027-2031. The rule sets a CAFE standard of 50.4 mpg for passenger cars and light trucks in 2031, which equates to approximately 38 mpg in real world performance. This represents only a slight increase from the approximately 35 mpg required in 2026.
This rule allows automakers to average in any electric vehicles they sell, which will get credit as having average fuel economy of around 300-400 mpg in 2027 when the rule goes into effect. The Department of Energy’s Petroleum Equivalency Factor will decrease this value over time, but EVs will still get credit as having fuel economy of around 120-130 mpg after 2029. This means that the sale of a relatively small number of electric vehicles will allow manufacturers to meet these standards without having to improve the efficiency of their gasoline vehicles, which was the original intent of the CAFE standards.
Consumer Reports (CR) does not expect this rule to deliver any incremental improvements to new vehicles beyond those delivered by EPA’s new vehicle emissions standards. CR advocated for NHTSA to set a stronger rule that would have prevented automakers from backsliding on the efficiency of their gasoline-powered vehicles as they roll out more electric vehicles, and that would have pressured automakers to ensure the EVs that they do build are as efficient as possible. The final standards are not strong enough to achieve either of these objectives.
Chris Harto, senior policy analyst for transportation and energy at Consumer Reports, said, “Today the administration is merely checking the box on the legal requirement for NHTSA to set CAFE standards. Unfortunately, NHTSA is hamstrung by statutory limitations that prevent the agency from considering electric vehicles in setting the stringency of CAFE standards. It’s likely that this important consumer protection program will become increasingly irrelevant as EV sales continue to grow.”
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Contact: David Butler, david.butler@consumer.org