The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized its decision to maintain current greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions standards for vehicle model years 2022-2025. This includes cars and light trucks. The agency predicts that the costs to meet these standards are lower than expected and will likely lower further over the next decade.
The standards are expected to result in average fleet-wide consumer fuel economy sticker values of 36 miles per gallon by model year 2025, which is 10 mpg higher than the current average. The EPA says that the current standards through 2025 are feasible, have a reasonable cost, will not require expensive electrification strategies, and will achieve significant CO2 and oil use reductions.
The EPA says that maintaining the current standards rather than pushing towards more stringent ones will allow some stability in the automotive market for the short-term, allowing greater product planning and engineering certainty.
The EPA’s final determination was published here.
Footprint-based CO2 (g/mile) light truck standards curves.
