NHTSA Sets Fuel Rules for Light Trucks, Heavy-Duty Pickups

CDS contractors, take note: fuel efficiency standards for light trucks and heavy-duty pickups will be rising in the next five years.

That’s because a new rule from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) establishes new benchmarks for fuel efficiency from vehicle manufacturers. The rule, which appears in the June 24 edition of the Federal Register, finalizes Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for passenger vehicles, light trucks and heavy-duty pickups.

Under the new requirements, vehicle manufacturers would have to establish a fleet average of 50.4 miles per gallon for cars and light trucks by model year 2031. Heavy-duty pickups would have to hit 2.851 gallons per 100 miles by model year 2035, the notice states. The rule, which follows a proposal issued last August, takes effect Aug. 23.

To achieve these standards, NHTSA explained on its website that it’s requiring manufacturers to scale up their fuel efficiency incrementally. Light trucks will see improved fuel efficiency starting with model year 2029, with the rate increasing two percent through model year 2031. By contrast, fuel standards for heavy-duty pickups would leap 10 percent for model years 2030 through 2032, and then increase at a rate of eight percent for model years 2033 through 2035.

NHTSA estimates that these improvements will curb air pollution and “save consumers nearly $23 billion in fuel costs and avoid the consumption of about 70 billion gallons of gasoline” and gasoline-equivalent fuels through 2050.