The increased fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks floated by the Transportation Department are aimed at complementing stricter tailpipe emission limits proposed by the EPA in April, putting more pressure on automakers to swiftly transition to electric vehicles over the next decade.
And lawmakers are drawing similar partisan conclusions about the fuel economy standards as they did about the tailpipe limits, teeing up more debates on what Republicans say is administrative overreach to mandate the adoption of electric vehicles.
“At a time when prices for new vehicles are at all-time highs, NHTSA’s new fuel economy standards will add even more to the price tag, depriving people of safe, affordable vehicles,” House Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., said in a statement. “These new penalties put an additional burden on manufacturers as well, which will ultimately be passed along to the hardworking people of this country.”
