The U.S. Department of Transportation is expected to propose new fuel economy standards in April that would require automakers to build more fuel-efficient cars, trucks, and SUVs. But first, the government wants to change a rule that, some say, has done the opposite. Current Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards require that each automaker’s lineup of cars average 49 mpg by model year 2026. Acting National Highway Traffic Safety Administration head Ann Carlson in January told reporters the agency would propose new fuel economy rules in April. Observers expect an increase to that 49 mpg goal.
However, the most significant change in regulations may concern cars that don’t burn fuel at all. It comes from a different federal agency.MPG and “MPG equivalent” The Department of Energy determines each electric car’s “mpg equivalent,” or MPGe. The figure is intended to show how the electricity an electric vehicle or plug-in hybrid (PHEV) uses equates to the fuel an internal combustion engine car would use. Learn more: What is EV, BEV, HEV, PHEV? Here’s your guide to types of electric cars To calculate it, the DOE uses a mathematical formula involving average driving patterns and “national average electricity generation and transmission efficiency.” That system, Reuters says, “has not been updated in more than two decades.” Most of the factors that go into it have changed in that time. DOE has proposed a new formula reflecting how the electri …
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