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Picture: GETTY IMAGES/MARIO TAMA
Picture: GETTY IMAGES/MARIO TAMA

New US transportation secretary Sean Duffy signed an order on Tuesday directing US regulators to rescind landmark fuel economy standards issued under former president Joe Biden that aimed to drastically reduce fuel use for cars and trucks.

In a memo Duffy directed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to reconsider the 2022 model year to the 2031 model year for cars and trucks.

In June the agency said it would hike corporate average fuel economy (Cafe) requirements to about 4.67l/100km by 2031 from 7.22l/100km for light-duty vehicles.

Duffy, who took office late on Tuesday, also directed the NHTSA to reconsider rules for heavy-duty pickup trucks and vans until the end of 2035.

“Artificially high fuel economy standards designed to meet non-statutory policy goals, such as those the NHTSA has promulgated in recent years, impose large costs that render many vehicle models unaffordable for the average American family,” Duffy’s memo said.

“They also put coercive pressure on automakers to phase out production of models of popular [internal combustion engine] vehicles.”

A group representing General Motors, Volkswagen, Toyota and other major carmakers had no immediate comment.

Federal law requires the NHTSA to set Cafe standards at the maximum feasible level.

The announcement is the latest move by the Trump administration to rescind efforts by the Biden administration to boost electric vehicles (EVs). The Environmental Protection Agency also plans to reconsider parallel vehicle emissions rules and rescind California’s waiver to ban sales of petrol-only vehicles by 2035.

The Biden administration set Cafe standards that were not as stringent as it first proposed. The NHTSA had proposed boosting Cafe requirements by 2% per year for passenger cars and 4% per year for light trucks from 2027 to 2032. The final rule had no increase for light trucks for 2027 and 2028 and required 2% increases from 2029-2031.

The NHTSA said in June the rule for passenger cars and trucks would reduce petrol consumption by 242-billion litres and cut emissions by 659-million metric tonnes. The agency said that while some vehicles would be more expensive to buy, consumers would save on fuel costs and estimated net benefits of $35.2bn (R656,231,713,280).

Reuters

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