Auto makers are being told to double fuel efficiency and halve pollution levels in the measures announced by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) .
The standards will apply to new passenger vehicles sold between 2017 and 2025.
The new legislation was endorsed by the director of the Clean Vehicles program of the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), Michelle Robinson.
“This is truly a watershed moment. Twenty years from now we’ll be looking back on this as the day we chose innovation over stagnation...”
The UCS has provided the following analysis of the new standards and estimates that they will:
- Cut oil use by as much as 3.1 million barrels per day by 2030 – roughly the amount we import from the Persian Gulf and Venezuela combined;
- Save consumers $8,000 over the life of a model year 2025 vehicle, compared to the average vehicle on the road today, even after paying for fuel-saving technology; and
- Reduce U.S. global warming pollution by as much as 570 million metric tons in 2030, the equivalent of taking a third, or 85 million, of today’s cars and trucks off the road for an entire year.
President Obama released a statement saying “These fuel standards represent the single most important step we’ve ever taken to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.”
