What are current CAFE standards?
The current standard for passenger automobiles is 27.5 mpg. The standard for light-trucks — a classification that also includes SUVs under 8,500 pounds — rose to 22.2 mpg for model-year 2007 and will get bumped up to 22.5 for 2008 models. Why don’t light trucks and SUVs have to meet the same fuel-economy standards as passenger cars? Light trucks and SUVs are subject to different fuel-economy standards because, when the standards were first conceived, lawmakers wanted to give U.S. farmers a break during the oil embargo of the ’70s. Those breaks remained in place long after the embargo disappeared. The Bush administration has taken small steps to correct this. Rules that went into effect in April 2006 will boost fuel-economy standards for light trucks by an average of slightly less than 2 mpg over four years. The expected gas savings — an estimated 10.7 billion gallons of gas over the next two decades — is less than what Americans now use in a single month. What’s the fuel-economy standa
