The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have outlined their intent to establish new emission and fuel economy standards for vehicles in the 2017-2025 model years.
The proposal is expected to be issued in one year’s time with the organisations working closely with the California Air Resources Board on an interim joint technical assessment report. The three agencies have evaluated scenarios representing a three per cent, four per cent, five per cent and six per cent annual decrease in greenhouse gas emission levels compared to the model year 2016 fleet average of 250g/mile. The 2025 targets range from 190g/mile to 143g/mile.
The idea behind the technology pathways is to show different levels of stringency that would reflect more or less emphasis on hybrid cars, plug-in hybrid cars and electric vehicles compared to petrol technologies and vehicle mass reduction.
It is expected that the agencies will develop standards on an attribute-based approach that will use the vehicle size measure of footprint allowing car makers to attain targets and maintain the flexibility to offer a wide range of vehicles to consumers.
Numerous meetings have been held with a variety of stakeholders in an effort to gather input including with original equipment manufacturers, automotive suppliers and non-governmental organisations.
More than 30 vehicle technologies have been assessed in an effort to reduce CO2 emissions, including technologies that are already readily available and those that will be made available in the future. Four pathways were examined – pathway A representing a focus on hybrid electric vehicles; pathway B looking at the industry utilising advanced petrol vehicles and mass reduction; pathway C focusing on advanced petrol vehicles, mass reduction and hybrid vehicles to a lesser extent; and pathway D where the industry focuses on plug-in hybrids, electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles.
