US to finalise sharply lower vehicle fuel economy standards

WASHINGTON: The Unites States Transportation Department on Monday will finalise sharply lower vehicle fuel economy standards through 2031, reversing a push by the Biden administration ​to force automakers to build more electric vehicles, officials said on Saturday.

President Donald Trump said he had approved new fuel economy standards for cars and trucks, which he said will lower the price of new vehicles. "A major victory for America's auto workers is coming Monday," Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said.

The new standards would cut the cost of new vehicles but increase fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions for decades, according to the department's own estimates.

Trump's push comes as American drivers are grappling with sharply higher fuel prices since the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran at the end of February.

Under Democratic President Joe Biden, the government sought to push automakers to build more electric vehicles to meet rising fuel-efficiency standards. Biden increased required fuel efficiency for cars ‌by ⁠8.0 per cent annually for model years 2024 and 2025, 10 per cent for 2026 and 2.0 per cent annually from 2027 to 2031.

The Trump administration in December proposed retroactively revising down the 2022 model year fuel economy standard ​and then raising it between 0.25 per cent and 0.5 per cent annually through 2031.

The Transportation Department proposed a fleetwide average of 34.5 miles per gallon (14.7 km per litre) by ​2031, down from 50.4 miles per gallon (21.4 km per litre) under Biden. It estimated its proposal would cut average new ​vehicle costs by US$930 each.

But it would increase fuel consumption by ​around 100 ⁠billion gallons through 2050, fuel spending by US$185 billion and carbon dioxide emissions by about 5.0 per cent, the department said.

Trump's move will make it easier for automakers to sell consumers less efficient vehicles. "Lowering standards will accelerate what (Trump) has already been doing: handing the clean tech future to China and forcing Americans to pay more at the pump," said Pete Buttigieg, who headed the Transportation Department under Biden.

Biden focused on reducing US greenhouse gas emissions and fossil fuel use, accelerating a transition to clean energy and making the US. a global leader ​in clean-energy technology and manufacturing.