How Trump's plan to roll back fuel emissions could affect your wallet
As questions swirl about whether President Donald Trump's rollbacks will harm the environment, one crucial factor looms large over the fate of emission standards: consumer's wallets.
The Trump administration proposes that a rollback on CAFE (corporate average fuel economy) standards will produce a $2,340 reduction in overall average vehicle ownership costs for new vehicles and save $500 billion in societal costs over the next 50 years. Yet auto industry experts warn that the rollback could add thousands to consumers' fuel bills over the lifetime of a car.
"Consumers are going to lose," said David Friedman, vice president of Consumer Reports. "Consumers are going to end up with cars that they're spending $3,000 moreover the lifetime of car and $5,000 more for the lifetime of an SUV, " he added, referring to greater fuel costs.
In 2012 the Obama administration initiated the gradual increase of federal fuel economy standards with the goal of reaching 54.5 mpg for new vehicles by Model Year 2025. Obama pushed for greater fuel efficiency to combat climate change and to "save consumers more than $1.7 trillion at the gas pump." Instead, the Trump administration is attempting to freeze the standards to 37 mpg by MY 2026, up from the enacted target. Trump contends that the price of new vehicles will quickly become "out of reach for many American families," if CAFE standards continue to rise.
The auto industry cheered on Trump's proposal. Car manufacturers long argued that adding fuel-saving technology on every single vehicle is overtly expensive and will skyrocket car prices. In May, CEOs and other executives from 10 U.S. and foreign carmakers met with Trump at the White House to push their defense. The administration agreed, saying the Obama-era standards could cause consumers to keep their old cars rather than upgrading to a new model with better fuel economy and pollution control.
Those claims are disputed by some industry experts. Experts believe that automakers have the capacity to create new vehicles with greater efficiency without exorbitantly raising the price but are begrudged to do so.
"Anyone who tries to downplay the engineering innovation of the auto industry is selling them short," said Friedman.
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