1) Aug 25 -- The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is announcing a virtual public hearing to be held September 28, 2023, on its proposal for the “Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards for Passenger Cars and Light Trucks for Model Years 2027–2032 and Fuel Efficiency Standards for Heavy-Duty Pickup Trucks and Vans for Model Years 2030–2035,” which was signed on July 28, 2023. This hearing also allows the public to provide oral comments regarding the Draft Environmental Impact Statement that accompanies the proposal. An additional session will be held on September 29, if necessary, to accommodate the number of people that sign up to testify.
FRN:
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2023-18309
2) Aug 17 -- NHTSA, on behalf of the Department of Transportation (DOT), is proposing new fuel economy standards for passenger cars and light trucks and fuel efficiency standards for model years (MYs) 2027–31 that increase at a rate of 2 percent per year for passenger cars and 4 percent per year for light trucks, and new fuel efficiency standards for heavy-duty pickup trucks and vans (HDPUVs) for MYs 2030–2035 that increase at a rate of 10 percent per year. NHTSA is also setting forth proposed augural standards for MY 2032 passenger cars and light trucks, that would increase at 2 percent and 4 percent year over year, respectively, as compared to the prior year's standards. NHTSA currently projects that the proposed standards would require an industry fleet-wide average for passenger cars and light trucks of roughly 58 miles per gallon (mpg) in MY 2032 and an industry fleet-wide average for HDPUVs of roughly 2.6 gallons per 100 miles in MY 2038. NHTSA further projects that the proposed standards would reduce average fuel outlays over the lifetimes of passenger cars and light trucks by $1,043 and of HDPUVs by $439. These proposed standards are directly responsive to the agency's statutory mandate to improve energy conservation and reduce the nation's energy dependence on foreign sources.
Comments are requested on or before October 16, 2023. NHTSA will hold one virtual public hearing during the public comment period. The agency will announce the specific date and web address for the hearing in a supplemental Federal Register notice.
Based on the information currently before us, NHTSA estimates that this proposal, if implemented, would reduce gasoline consumption by 88 billion gallons relative to baseline levels for passenger cars and light trucks, and by approximately 2.6 billion gallons relative to baseline levels for HDPUVs through calendar year 2050. Reducing fuel consumption has multiple benefits—it improves our nation's energy security, it saves consumers money, and reduces harmful pollutant emissions that lead to adverse human and environmental health outcomes and climate change. NHTSA estimates that this proposal, if implemented, could reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 885 million metric tons for passenger cars and light trucks, and by 22 million metric tons for HDPUVs through calendar year 2050. While consumers would pay more for new vehicles upfront, we estimate that they would save money on fuel costs over the lifetimes of those new vehicles—lifetime fuel savings exceed modeled regulatory costs by roughly $100, on average, for passenger car and light truck buyers of MY 2032 vehicles, and roughly $300, on average, for HDPUV buyers of MY 2038 vehicles. Net benefits for the preferred alternative for passenger cars and light truck are estimated to be $16.8 billion at a 3 percent discount rate (DR), and $8.4 billion at a 7 percent DR, and for HDPUVs, net benefits are estimated to be $2.2 billion at a 3 percent DR, and $1.4 billion at a 7 percent DR.
NHTSA's proposal is also consistent with Executive Order (E.O.) 14037, “Strengthening American Leadership in Clean Cars and Trucks,” (August 5, 2021), which directs the Secretary of Transportation (by delegation, NHTSA) to develop rulemakings under Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) to consider beginning work on a rulemaking to establish new fuel economy standards for passenger cars and light trucks beginning with MY 2027 and extending through at least MY 2030, and to consider beginning work on a rulemaking to establish new fuel efficiency standards for HDPUVs beginning with MY 2028 and extending through at least MY 2030, consistent with applicable law. . . .
The proposal considers a range of regulatory alternatives for each fleet, consistent with NHTSA's obligations under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and E.O. 12866. Specifically, NHTSA considered four regulatory alternatives for passenger cars and light trucks, as well as the No-Action Alternative. Each alternative is labeled for the type of vehicle and the rate of increase in fuel economy stringency, for example, PC1LT3 represents a 1 percent increase in Passenger Car standards and a 3 percent increase in Light Truck standards. We include three regulatory alternatives for HDPUVs, each representing different possible rates of year-over-year increase in the stringency of new fuel economy and fuel efficiency standards, as well as the No-Action Alternative. For example, HDPUV4 represents a 4 percent increase in fuel efficiency standards applicable to HDPUVs. The regulatory alternatives are as follows: . . .
NHTSA is proposing to increase stringency at 2 percent per year for passenger cars and at 4 percent per year for light trucks, year over year from MY 2027 through MY 2032, and at 10 percent per year for HDPUVs, year over year from MY 2030 through MY 2035. The regulatory alternatives representing these proposals are called “PC2LT4” for passenger cars and light trucks, and “HDPUV10” for HDPUVs. NHTSA tentatively concludes that these levels are the maximum feasible for these MYs as discussed in more detail in Section V of this preamble. NHTSA is proposing standards that rise at a more rapid rate for light trucks than for passenger cars. As explained in more detail below, the agency believes that there is more room to improve the fuel economy of light trucks, in a cost-effective way, and that the benefits of requiring more improvement from light trucks will be significant given their high usage and the fact that they make up an ever-larger percentage of the overall fleet. Passenger cars, on the other hand, have been improving at a rapid rate for many years in succession, and the available improvements for that fleet are fewer, particularly given the statutory constraints that prevent NHTSA from considering the fuel economy of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in determining maximum feasible CAFE standards.
NHTSA notes that due to the statutory constraints that prevent NHTSA from considering the fuel economy of dedicated alternative fueled vehicles, the full fuel economy of dual-fueled alternative fueled vehicles, and the availability of over-compliance credits when determining what standards are maximum feasible, many aspects of our analysis are different from what they would otherwise be without the statutory restrictions—in particular, the technologies chosen to model possible compliance options, the estimated costs, benefits, and achieved levels of fuel economy, as well as the current and projected adoption of alternative fueled vehicles. NHTSA evaluates the results of that constrained analysis by weighing the four enumerated statutory factors to determine which standards are maximum feasible.
In this action, NHTSA is proposing six MYs of standards for each fleet. For passenger cars and light trucks, NHTSA notes that the final year of standards proposed, MY 2032, is “augural,” as in the 2012 final rule which established CAFE standards for MYs 2017 and beyond. Augural standards mean that they are NHTSA's best estimate of what the agency would propose, based on the information currently before it, if the agency had authority to set CAFE standards for more than five MYs in one action. The augural standards do not, and will not, have any effect in themselves and will not be binding unless adopted in a subsequent rulemaking. Consistent with past practice, NHTSA is including augural standards for MY 2032 to give its best estimate of what those standards would be to provide as much predictability as possible to manufacturers and to be consistent with the time frame of the proposed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from motor vehicles. Due to statutory lead time constraints for HDPUV standards, NHTSA's proposal for HDPUV standards must begin with MY 2030. There is no restriction on the number of MYs for which NHTSA may set HDPUV standards, so none of the HDPUV standards are augural. NHTSA also requests comment on a scenario where the regulatory alternatives would extend only through MY 2032, which coincides with the time frame of the EPA proposed GHG standards for this vehicle segment.
NHTSA requests comment on the full range of standards encompassed between the No-Action Alternative and Alternative PC6LT8 for MYs 2027–2032 Passenger Cars, as well as comments on the range of standards encompassed for light trucks, and on the full range of standards encompassed between the No-Action Alternative and Alternative HDPUV14 for MYs 2030–2035 HDPUVs. NHTSA expressly asks for comment on combinations of standards that may not be explicitly identified in this proposal, including standards between the No-Action Alternative and PC1/LT3, as well as between PC3/LT5 and PC6/LT8. NHTSA also notes that passenger car and light truck stringency may move independently of one another, and that rates of increase may vary by model year.
The proposed CAFE standards remain vehicle-footprint-based, like the current CAFE standards in effect since MY 2011, and the proposed HDPUV standards remain work-factor-based, like the HDPUV standards established in the 2011 “Phase 1” rulemaking and continued to be used in 2016 “Phase 2” rulemaking. The footprint of a vehicle is the area calculated by multiplying the wheelbase times the track width, essentially the rectangular area of a vehicle measured from tire to tire where the tires hit the ground. The work factor (WF) of a vehicle is a unit established to measure payload, towing capability, and whether or not a vehicle has four-wheel drive. This means that the proposed standards are defined by mathematical equations that represent linear functions relating vehicle footprint to fuel economy targets for passenger cars and light trucks,and relating WF to fuel consumption targets for HDPUVs.
NHTSA is also proposing new minimum domestic passenger car CAFE standards (MDPCS) for MYs 2027–2032 as required by the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 (EPCA), as amended by the EISA, and applied to vehicles defined as manufactured in the United States. Section 32902(b)(4) of 49 U.S.C. requires NHTSA to project the minimum domestic standard when it promulgates passenger car standards for a MY, so the minimum standards are estimated as specific mpg values and will be finalized as specific mpg values when NHTSA sets final passenger car standards for MYs 2027–2032. NHTSA retains the 1.9 percent offset first used in the 2020 final rule, reflecting prior differences between passenger car footprints originally forecast by the agency and passenger car footprints as they occurred in the real world, such that the minimum domestic passenger car standard is as shown in the table below. NHTSA requests comment on this approach. . . .
Fuel Economy Standards:
https://www.nhtsa.gov/laws-regulations/corporate-average-fuel-economy
FRN:
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2023-16515 [263 pages]
FRN corrections:
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2023-18310 [posted 8/25]
