(February 28, 2011) California will be using the same timeline as federal agencies in developing and proposing fuel economy and greenhouse gas standards for cars and light-duty trucks.

The California Air Resources Board (ARB) said the new standards will be proposed by September 1 of this year for model year 2017–2025 cars and light-duty trucks.

Joining the ARB’s January 24 announcement were the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Proposing the new standards on the same timeframe “signals continued collaboration that could lead to an extension of the current National Clean Air Program, providing automakers certainty as they work to build the next generation of clean, fuel-efficient cars,” the ARB stated in a news release.

ARB had previously announced it intended to propose greenhouse gas emission standards for model years 2017 to 2025 in March of this year, while the EPA and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration were working to propose the new standards by the end of this September.

ARB reports that DOT and EPA set greenhouse gas emission and fuel economy standards for model year 2012–2016 light-duty cars and trucks in April 2010.

Last fall, California accepted compliance with these federal greenhouse gas standards as meeting similar state standards adopted in 2004. The standards require the vehicles to meet an estimated combined average emissions level of 250 grams of carbon dioxide per mile in model year 2016, the equivalent of 35.5 miles per gallon fuel efficiency.

Last May, President Barack Obama announced that EPA, DOT and California would be working together to assess the performance and costs of a variety of technologies that could be available in model years 2017–2025 as the first step in possibly extending current national emission and fuel economy standards.

The three agencies have completed an “interim technology assessment” and have since funded additional research, according to ARB.

Staff Contact: Robert Callahan