By 2016, that plan was looking unrealistic, in part thanks to a love of cheap gasoline and big SUVs with thirsty engines. Two years later, with a different party in control of the government, the EPA was fighting a number of states in court over the federal regulator’s plan to water down fuel economy and air pollution standards.
In 2020, we finally got a look at those neutered regulations, which set a fleet average goal of just 40.4 mpg (5.8 L/100 km), or just 34.1 mpg (6.9 L/100 km) for SUVs and trucks.
Under former President Joe Biden, the EPA went back to its congressionally mandated job of caring about pollution. Some of the damage done under the first Trump administration was undone in 2021 with stricter fuel efficiency regulations.
But the prospect of having to sell more EVs was not well-received by the nation’s car dealers. Always a very politically active constituency, the dealers lobbied the Biden administration to undo what they said was a plan to ban “the sale of gasoline-powered vehicles.”
With a change in presidents, the dealers got what they wanted. In late January, NHTSA was ordered to review its fuel economy standards, and now the EPA is following suit.
