Automakers who sell cars in the United States now have even less incentive to ensure fuel consumption. As Ars has noticed earlier, the current government and its Republican allies have worked hard in the congress to undermine the federal regulations intended to make our vehicle fleet more efficient.
Some measures are aimed at reducing the acceptance of electric vehicles – for example, the IRS tax credit for a clean vehicle is eliminated at the end of September. Others have aimed at the regulations of the federal fuel consumption for which automakers must meet specific fleet efficiency remedies or are confronted with punishing fines for too much polluting. At least they used to be.
According to a letter from Reuters, sent to car manufacturers by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the federal government has decided that it will not levy fines on companies that have exceeded the company -average fuel consumption (CAFE) that goes back to model year 2022.
According to the Biden administration, the café fines were increased to $ 17 per vehicle for every 0.1 mpg below the standard, and between model years 2011-2020, OEMs paid more than $ 1.1 billion in fines -money that will no longer be collected. For car manufacturers such as Stellantis, who has paid nearly $ 600 million in fines over the past decade, the change will be considerable.
“The average fuel consumption has doubled over the past 50 years, which means that drivers save thousands of gas money every year thanks to this program. Weakening this program, either by changing the rules or to withdraw it means that everyday Americans should buy more gas, and more demand for gas means higher gas prices.
