In 2020, Trump cut CAFE to 40 mpg. Now he’s cut it again to just 35 mpg.
The federal government’s war on fuel efficiency claimed another victim today. The Department of Transportation released a new rule for the country’s Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards, which, as expected, discourage the very idea of economical vehicles. Among the changes is a rollback to fuel economy numbers not seen in more than a decade, below even the low standards implemented in 2020, the last time Trump was in power. The new goal is just 34.9 mpg by model year 2031.
This is nothing if not expected. When Sean Duffy was installed as Transportation secretary last January, he immediately announced that any fuel efficiency standards put in place under the Biden administration were dead and buried. Those rules had a slower ramp up than some might have liked but would have required automakers to sell many more electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids.
I don’t understand how this can seem like a good idea even to a climate denier.
American cars are already the least desirable. Reducing the standards will make them unworthy of foreign markets.
Imagine if the US had decided to lead the way into a renewable future. A huge economy powering research, and building home grown tech for the world.
Instead you’ve got these octogenarians harvesting the wealth of the populace.
The thinking is: forget international - just build enormous tanks for Americans because they love them and will pay more for them. Only problem is they run up against some limits with respect to fuel economy laws.
The top selling vehicle in America for like over a decade is the Ford F-150 truck. 80% of cars sold in the US are trucks and SUVs.
Ford motor company doesn’t even make a passenger car anymore - except the Mustang which is a small run sports car nostalgia wank.
These companies aren’t trying to make the car of tomorrow for the whole world. They are trying to make as much profit as possible from a somewhat captive market which happens to be one of the wealthiest in the world.
All clear now? It’s evil and it sucks but it shouldn’t be a mystery.
It’s Trump. Some car manufacturer exec gave him a few million to do this, since it’ll save them some money in the short term before they jump ship to another company, so he did it.
Actually the most plausible explanation.
It wasn’t a joke. This is literally how corrupt politics works. People become politicians specifically so that they can make a bunch of money from companies paying them to push the country more in their favor, and the people who don’t play into that game don’t make it high enough to do anything about it.
You’re trying to use logic to argue with climate deniers?
american automakers were already doing their best to completely avoid the difficult regulations by selling light trucks (SUV) instead of cars, reducing the regulation might (probably won’t) lessen the incentive to build bigger vehicles to bypass said regulations.
I can only afford to drive shit from 2014 so this makes sense.
I’m currently sitting at early aughts and eighties levels personally.
It makes sense when you realize Trump’s goal is to punish people