Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE): Light Truck Fuel Economy Standard Rulemaking, MY 2008-2011

This final rule reforms the structure of the CAFE (corporate average fuel economy) programme for light trucks and establishes higher CAFE standards for model year (MY) 2008-2011 light trucks. Manufacturers may comply with CAFE standards established under the reformed structure (Reformed CAFE) or with standards established in the traditional way (Unreformed CAFE) during a transition period of MYs 2008-2010. In MY 2011, all manufacturers will be required to comply with a Reformed CAFE standard. The final fuel economy standards for the light truck vehicle category (SUVs, pick-up trucks) MY 08-11 raise the standard from 21.6 to 24 miles per gallon. Under the traditional Unreformed CAFE, light truck efficiency will increase as follows: Model Year 2007 - fuel economy 22.2 mpg Model Year 2008 - fuel economy 22.5 mpg Model Year 2009 - fuel economy 23.1 mpg Model Year 2010 - fuel economy 23.5 mpg Model Year 2011 - fuel economy 24 mpg Under the Reformed CAFE structure announced in March 2006, fuel economy for each manufacturer will be based on the mix of vehicles sold and fuel economy is set as function of vehicle size. In this case, the standards are restructured so they are based on a measure of vehicle size called "footprint," the product of multiplying a vehicles wheelbase by its track width. A target level of fuel economy is established for each increment in footprint. Smaller footprint light trucks have higher targets and larger ones, lower targets. An overall fleet-wide average for each manufacturer for each model year is established by averaging the individual fuel economy of the mix of vehicles sold by the manufacturer. The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which entered into force in December 2007 provides for a further increase to 15 km per litre by 2020.

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