Obama Raises Fuel-Economy Standards

US fuel-economy standards are going up, an Obama administration official tells Bloomberg today. By 2011, new cars and light trucks will have to hit an average of 27.3 miles per gallon—30.2mpg for cars and 24.1 for light trucks and SUVs. Automakers have raised no objections—the standard is only 0.3mpg higher than the average for 2008 vehicles, the Detroit Free Press adds.

A 2007 law requires vehicles to meet a 35mpg standard by 2010. Obama’s new standard is actually lower than the 27.8 President Bush proposed, but never implemented, in April. “That means that they’ll have to make up for it in future years,” said one clean-car advocate. “The good news is that they have promised that they will.” (More fuel efficiency stories.)