One perhaps not-terrible change in the new rule is a tightening of the light truck loophole. Passenger cars and light trucks have been classified separately under CAFE, with weaker standards for the latter. That encouraged car companies to redesign their crossovers such that they could be categorized as light trucks, with the end result that our roads are full of SUVs that are bigger and thirstier than they should be.

Should these regulations still be in effect by model year 2030, they will “change classification criteria starting in model year 2030 to reflect each vehicle’s intended use accurately, flipping the current fleet mix of approximately 70 [percent] light trucks and 30 [percent] passenger vehicles to around 70 [percent] passenger cars and 30 [percent] light trucks,” according to the Department of Transportation.

We could have had a better world

The meagre standard of 34.9 mpg seems even more pathetic in light of history. In 2012, the Obama administration published new CAFE standards that set us on a road to 54 mpg by 2025. Obviously, we did not arrive at that destination, due to constant assaults on fuel efficiency under the first Trump administration. That government finally published new CAFE standards in 2020, cutting them from 46.7 mpg in model year 2026 to 40.4 mpg.

That damage was slowly undone under the Biden administration, which also changed rules to encourage smaller and lighter vehicles. Now, it seems we go backward just as fuel prices are climbing higher than Americans have seen before.

“The CAFE program was created in the 1970s in response to price shocks at the pump that raised costs for every American. Lowering these standards now, when so many families are already struggling with rising transportation costs, will only make things harder for them. At the same time, lowering the bar for innovation risks a future where the global auto market leaves American industry behind,” said Albert Gore, executive director of the Zero Emissions Transportation Association.