Feds delay 2025 fuel efficiency proposal

The Obama administration says it will not meet its self-imposed deadline to unveil a proposed doubling of fuel efficiency standards to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025 and instead will unveil the proposal in mid-November.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it will not meet a deadline set for releasing the proposal by the end of this month. Earlier this year, NHTSA and the Environmental Protection Agency said they would roll out their proposal in tandem with California, which has been considering its own state proposal.

The complexity of setting rules for the 2017-25 time frame — expected to run more than 2,000 pages with supporting documents — is a key factor in the delay. Automakers aren’t opposed to the delay because they are eager to see the administration get the rules right.

“The agreement in principle reached in July needs to be turned into a proposed multi-year rule and that takes some time, so we’re not concerned about another couple of months for a rule that doesn’t start until 2017,” said Wade Newton, a spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, the trade group representing Detroit’s Big Three automakers, Toyota Motor Corp. and seven others.

Under the terms of a deal struck with 13 major automakers — including General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co., Chrysler Group, Toyota, BMW AG and others — California will agree not to seek to impose its own state standards.