A group of electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers has stepped into the controversy surrounding the U.S. Department of Transportation’s new fuel economy standards for passenger cars and light trucks.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently issued a final ruling on its new corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards for 2027-2032 vehicles. These standards would require car manufacturers to improve fuel efficiency by 2% per year for passenger cars of those model years. Light trucks’ fuel efficiency can remain steady for 2027-2028, but must grow by 2% per year for 2029-2031 trucks.
While the state of West Virginia, corn growers’ associations in multiple states and several fuel and energy companies have challenged these standards in a Sixth Circuit court, a coalition of companies from the EV supply chain have officially joined the NHTSA’s side of the dispute.
The Zero Emission Transportation Association (ZETA) includes EV manufacturers like Tesla, Lucid and Rivian Automotive. It also includes companies that produce or process EV charging stations and batteries.
In a legal document filed on July 25, ZETA says it should be allowed to intervene in the case on behalf of the NHTSA because it partly contributed to developing the standards.
“ZETA’s comments shared its members’ experiences to inform NHTSA of how the thriving electric vehicle market is contributing to a cleaner environment while creating American jobs…” the organization says in its legal request. “ZETA encouraged NHTSA to finalize the most stringent alternatives modeled by the agency and offered detailed suggestions as to how the Final Rule could be strengthened to most cost-effectively improve fleet-wide efficiency while promoting enhanced economic growth.”
In the request for intervention, ZETA also pointed out that the new standards directly benefit multiple members, mainly the EV manufacturers.
“The stringency of the standards adopted by NHTSA in the Final Rule will have a significant effect on the demand for electric vehicles, the value of credits generated by manufacturers of zero-emission vehicles and the scale of investment in electric vehicles and supporting infrastructure,” the organization says.
