On April 1, 2022, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, on behalf of the Department of Transportation, finalized revised corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards for passenger cars and light trucks for model years (MY) 2024–2026. This proposal continues NHTSA’s implementation of President Biden’s January 20, 2021 Executive order, “Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science To Tackle the Climate Crisis.’’ In that order, President Biden directed that the 2020 “Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles Rule for Model Years 2021–2026 Passenger Cars and Light Trucks’’ be immediately reviewed for consistency with public health, environmental, and other policy goals, and that the Secretary of Transportation consider suspending, revising, or rescinding the 2020 rule by July 2021. The final rule sets fuel economy standards that increase at a rate of 8 percent per year, and increase at a rate of 10 percent per year for MY 2026 vehicles.
NHTSA’s rule follows EPA’s December 20, 2021 rule finalizing light-duty vehicle greenhouse gas emissions standards for MY 2023 and later, which likewise implemented President Biden’s January 2021 order.