FACT FOCUS: Trump said weaker gas mileage rules will mean cheaper cars. Experts say don't bet on it

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DETROIT (AP) — President Donald Trump this week announced plans to weaken rules for how far automakers' new vehicles need to travel on a gallon of gasoline, set under former President Joe Biden.

The Trump administration said the rules, known formally as Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, standards, are why new vehicles are too expensive, and that cutting them will drive down costs and make driving safer for Americans.

The new standards would drop the industry fleetwide average for light-duty vehicles to roughly 34.5 mpg (55.5 kpg) in the 2031 model year, down from the goal of about 50.4 mpg (81.1 kpg) that year under the Biden-era rule.

Here are the facts.

TRUMP: EV-friendly policies “forced automakers to build cars using expensive technologies that drove up costs, drove up prices and made the car much worse.”

THE FACTS: It's true that gas mileage standards have played a role in rising vehicle prices in recent years, but experts say plenty of other factors have contributed, and some much more.

Pandemic-era inventory shortages, supply chain challenges, tariffs and other trade dynamics, and even automakers' growing investments in their businesses have also sent prices soaring. Average prices have also skewed higher as automakers have leaned into the costly big pickups and SUVs that many American consumers love.

The average transaction price of a new vehicle hit $49,105 in October, according to car shopping guide Edmunds.

A Consumer Reports analysis of vehicles for model years 2003 to 2021 — a period in which average fuel economy improved 30% — found no significant increase in inflation-adjusted vehicle prices caused by the requirements. At the same time, it found an average of $7,000 in lifetime fuel savings per vehicle for 2021 model year vehicles compared with 2003. That analysis, done primarily before the coronavirus pandemic, attributed much of the average sticker price increase to the shift toward bigger and more expensive vehicles.

Cutting the fuel economy standards is unlikely to provide any fast relief on sticker prices, said Jessica Caldwell, Edmunds' head of insights. And while looser standards may eventually mean lower car prices, their lower efficiency means that those savings could be eaten up by higher fuel costs, she said.

TRUMP: Biden’s policies were “a quest to end the gasoline-powered car.”

THE FACTS: The Biden administration did enact several policies to increase electric vehicle adoption, including setting a target for half of new vehicle sales in the U.S. to be electric by 2030.

The Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act included tax incentives that gave car buyers up to $7,500 off the price of an EV and dedicated billions of dollars to nationwide charging — funding that Trump tried to stop. The Biden administration increased fuel economy requirements and set stricter tailpipe emissions limits.

While those moves sought to help build the EV market, there was no requirement that automakers sell EVs or consumers buy them. And gasoline cars still make up the vast majority of the U.S. market.

TRUMP: “We had to have an electric car within a very short period of time, even though there was no way of charging them.”

THE FACTS: While many potential EV buyers still worry about charging them, the availability of public charging has significantly improved in recent years.

Biden-era funding and private investment have increased charging across the nation. There are now more than 232,000 individual Level 2 and fast charging ports in the U.S. As of this year, enough fast charging ports have been installed to average one for every mile (1.6 kilometers) of National Highway System roads in the U.S., according to an AP analysis of data from the Department of Energy.

However, those fast charging stations aren’t evenly dispersed. Many are concentrated in the far West and the Northeast, where sales of EVs are highest.

Experts note that most EV charging can be done at home.

TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY SEAN DUFFY: The reduced requirements will make drivers “safer on the roads because of all the great new technology we have that save lives.”

THE FACTS: Newer vehicles — gas and electric — are full of advanced safety features, including automatic emergency braking, lane-keeping, collision warnings and more.

Duffy suggested that consumers will be more likely to buy new vehicles if they are more affordable — meaning fewer old cars on the streets without the safety technology. This assumes vehicle prices will actually go down with eased requirements, which experts say might not be the case. Besides, high tech adds to a vehicle's cost.

“If Americans purchased more new vehicles equipped with the latest safety technologies, we would expect overall on-road safety to improve,” Edmunds' Caldwell said. “However, it’s unclear whether easing fuel-economy standards will meaningfully increase new-vehicle sales.”

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, an independent automotive research nonprofit, also says electric or hybrid vehicles are as safe as or safer than gasoline-powered cars.

Another part of safety is public health. Efficiency requirements put into place to address the 1970s oil crisis were also a way to reduce pollution that is harmful to humans and the environment.

“This rollback would move the auto industry backwards, keeping polluting cars on our roads for years to come and threatening the health of millions of Americans,” said Katherine García, director of the Sierra Club's Clean Transportation for All campaign. “This dangerous proposal adds to the long list of ways the Trump administration is dismantling our clean air and public health protections.”

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Associated Press data journalist M.K. Wildeman contributed from Hartford, Connecticut.

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Follow Alexa St. John on X: @alexa_stjohn and reach her at [email protected]. Read more of AP’s climate coverage.

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