MotorVehicleRegs.COM

Regulatory and Legislative Tracking Reports for Vehicle Manufacturers and Suppliers

Since 1999, Kardos & Associates LLC has supplied the auto industry with the most comprehensive regulatory and legislative tracking reports available. We currently offer clients the following:

Motor Vehicle Safety & Emissions Regulatory Update (the REG UPDATE)

The REG UPDATE has been tracking US and Canadian regulatory activity impacting the auto industry for over twenty years. Regulations developed by the NHTSA, FMCSA, EPA, FCC, CARB, Transport Canada, and Environment Canada are the focus. For each rulemaking, the Reg Update provides a description of the rulemaking, comment deadlines, effective dates, a docket reference, and links to documents available online. Deadlines and critical path items are color-coded so that you can quickly identify what’s new and important. In addition to being an excellent tool for tracking regulatory activity, the Reg Update is a great archive of past actions. The report contains information on virtually every rulemaking affecting automakers from the past two decades. Approximately 400 pages in length.

U.S. Safety & Fuel Economy Regulatory & Legislative Update
The U.S. Safety & Fuel Economy Regulatory & Legislative Update provides a snapshot of the past month’s legislative and regulatory activities relating to safety, emissions and fuel economy. The report provides brief summaries of notices issued by DOT, EPA, CARB and others. With regard to federal legislation, the report covers newly introduced bills, information on committee hearings, etc. Activities at the state level pertaining to emerging technologies (e.g., automated vehicles, advance driver assistance systems, EVs and EV infrastructure, etc.) are also covered.

Federal Legislation Tracking Report
Our legislative tracking report focuses on matters relating to environment and energy, safety and fuel economy/climate change. The report covers two years-worth of bills (the length of each Congressional session) and includes summaries and status updates for each tracked bill. Links to bill text and related information are provided.

All of our reports are distributed monthly via email as a PDF. Subscribers also get access to an online archive of past reports.

For pricing, contact Dale Kardos at (202) 3064997 or [email protected]. For more information about Kardos & Associates LLC, see www.kardosllc.com.

For a PDF of this information, click here.

California ZEV Credit Balances

CARB has posted ZEV credit balance data as of Aug. 31, 2020.  The data includes 2019 vehicle production for sale in California of large volume and intermediate volume manufacturers.  2019 ZEV requirements are based on 7.0% of a manufacturer’s total average production volume of all passenger cars and light-duty trucks up to 8500 lbs for sale in CA for the 2015-2017 model years.  The report additionally shows transfer of credits between manufacturers for the period Sep. 1, 2019 to Aug. 31, 2020. There was only one transfer (6000 BEV credits from Tesla to Mazda). For a copy of the report, click here.

2019 EPA Automotive Trends Report

EPA has released its 2019 Automotive Trends Report which discusses new light-duty vehicle GHG emissions, fuel economy, technology data, and auto manufacturers’ performance in meet­ing the agency’s GHG emissions standards. A copy of the report along with the Executive Summary are available here.

A few headlines from the Exec Summary are below. 

• Manufacturers continue to adopt a wide array of advanced technologies

• New vehicle estimated real-world CO2 emissions are at a record low and fuel economy is at a record high
  • In model year 2018, the average vehicles fell by 4 grams per mile (g/mi) to 353 g/mi, the lowest level ever measured. Fuel economy increased by 0.2 miles per gallon to 25.1 mpg, achieving a record high.

• Manufacturers have made significant improvements in fuel economy and CO2 emissions over the last 5 years
  • Over the last five years, eleven of the fourteen largest manufacturers selling vehicles in the U.S. market improved both estimated real-world CO2 emissions and fuel economy of their new vehicle fleets. One manufacturer, Tesla, improved fuel economy (as measured in miles per gallon of gasoline equivalent, or mpge) but not tailpipe CO2 emissions, because their all-electric fleet produces no tailpipe CO2 emissions. Two of the fourteen manufacturers increased CO2 emissions and decreased fuel economy of their new vehicle fleets (Hyundai and VW).

• Manufacturers used different combinations of technology improvements and banked credits to achieve compliance in 2018
• The industry generated almost as many credits as it used in 2018, maintaining a large bank of credits for future model years.

CARB Proposed Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) Regulation and Draft Environmental Analysis (EA)

On Oct. 22, 2019, CARB released it proposed Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) Regulation and Draft Environmental Analysis (EA) for public comment.   The proposal, if finalized, would require manufacturers of incomplete or complete vehicles > 8500 lbs GVWR with 500 or more annual sales in CA to begin to electrify their fleets starting in 2024. Fleet compliance percentages vary by year and vehicle class.  By 2030, one out of every two Class 4-8 vehicles will need to be electrified.

The rule will be considered by the Board at a hearing which will take place in Sacramento, CA on Dec. 12, 2019 starting at 9 am (PST).

Written comments on the proposal must be submitted no later than Dec. 9, 2019.

All documents concerning the rulemaking are available online at https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/rulemaking/2019/advancedcleantrucks.

Trump's NHTSA

I am in the regulatory affairs business so every year around this time, I put together a list of NHTSA regulations that I think will be issued in the coming year.  Each year I somehow manage to get it wrong and in 2016, things were no different.  Only a handful of my predictions came true.  Yes, rules concerning V2V communications, minimum sound requirements for electric vehicles, fuel consumption rule for heavy trucks were issued as expected.  Many other rules, however, addressing important topics like child restraint side impact testing, bus rollover, and EDRs never made it out. 

What happened in 2016 is that the Administrator called an audible and ran an end-run around regular order and pursued a number of non-regulatory measures – things like the automatic emergency braking agreement, automated vehicle guidance, distraction guidelines for portable devices, cybersecurity guidelines, and a major upgrade to the New Car Assessment Program (NCAP).  Of these initiatives, only the AEB agreement was finalized and now, as a result of the recent lawsuit filed by consumer and safety advocates who think that AEB should be a mandatory, even it may be in jeopardy.

As we prepare for a new era of regulation under Donald Trump, folks are now wondering what will become of these initiatives and the backlog of rules.  To get a hint at how 2017 will play out, we should probably take a look at what transpired back in January of 2001 when George W. Bush took office.  It’s been almost sixteen years since Andy Card (George W. Bush’s Chief of Staff) issued his January 20, 2001 memorandum to heads of agencies advising them not to send any new regulations to the Office of the Federal Register until they could be reviewed by the new administration.   Those of us who were around back then know that this memo had a chilling effect on regulatory activity.  Consequently, in 2001, only a few rules were issued by NHTSA.  Not-so-critical issues like headlight glare and trunk entrapment were addressed.   

If history repeats itself, Reince Priebus will issue a similar directive on January 20, 2017 and there will be few, if any, new regulations published in the year to come. No shocker there.  Afterall, Trump campaigned on eliminating regulations.  But what about all those non-regulatory actions Mark Rosekind initiated in 2016?  What will become of those?  As proposed, the NCAP upgrade will incentivize manufacturers to install important crash avoidance technologies such as forward collision warning, lane departure warning, blind spot detection, semi-automatic headlamp beam switching, rear automatic, and pedestrian automatic emergency braking.  But the NCAP upgrade will also force manufacturers to redesign their vehicles to comply with new oblique crash test and pedestrian protection requirements.  It is fine for NHTSA to push the adoption of crash avoidance technology via NCAP but crash test standards and new injury criteria are probably best pursued via traditional rulemaking procedures.

Then there is NHTSA’s automated vehicle policy.   Pretty much everyone involved in this space would like to see leadership at the federal level.  Every month that goes by where we have a federal policy that lacks the clarity stakeholders require presents another opportunity for state DOTs and their legislatures to create a patchwork of state requirements that could stifle innovation and delay the realization of benefits.  Leadership and swift action in this area is needed.  We cannot afford to have state agencies issuing rule after rule while the new administration does nothing.  We will also need leadership from NHTSA on the V2V communication rule as this is another complex undertaking that requires the support of the federal government.  With distraction rampant and fatalities on the rise in the U.S., we need a V2V framework that will make it possible for important safety applications to be delivered in the future.  If the agency puts the V2V rule on hold or the FCC takes back the spectrum that was granted to our industry, live saving applications life Left Turn Assist and Intersection Movement Assist may never be realized.

So, as we prepare to say goodbye to 2016 and ring in the new year, I hope that the new administration will resolve to follow regular order and take the actions necessary to support the testing and deployment of promising new technological safety advancements.

Dale Kardos

President, Dale Kardos & Associates, Inc.

About Dale Kardos: Dale Kardos is a regulatory affairs consultant based in Washington, DC.  For over 20 years, his firm Dale Kardos & Associates, Inc. has been assisting vehicle OEMs, suppliers, automotive trade associations and others in confronting environment, energy and safety regulation and legislation.  He is also the founder of Mobilis Trading LLC which offers an online auction platform for buying and selling regulatory compliance credits.

RFF Publishes New Report on Credit Trading

A new report entitled "New Markets for Pollution and Energy Efficiency: Credit Trading under Automobile Greenhouse Gas and Fuel Economy Standards" examines the prospects and implications for credit trading under the new CAFE and GHG rules.  In the report, the authors, Virginia McConnell and Benjamin Leard of Resources for the Future, evaluate the current functionality of the CAFE and GHG credit markets and assess the potential for there to exist well-functioning markets in the future.

Based on their research, the authors make the finding that the trading of credits has been somewhat limited to date for a number of reasons, such as a lack of price transparency and the fact that CAFE and GHG standards, though increasing in stringency, still do not result in noncompliant fleets for most automakers.  The authors predict, however, that as the standards become increasingly more stringent, and as manufacturers begin to utilize more efficient and transparent trading processes (such as the auction platform operated by Mobilis), CAFE and GHG credit markets will likely become more robust in time and help drive costs of compliance down for manufacturers

For a copy of the paper, click here.

ZEV Program Amendments

On Monday (July 14, 2014), the California Air Resources Board (CARB) will hold workshop at 10 am PST in Sacramento to discuss changes that are being considered for the ZEV program. 

According to the Staff presentation that was released Friday, the workshop will focus on amendments that would make the percent of sales requirement for Intermediate Volume Manufacturers (IVMs) more consistent with the percent of sales requirement applicable to Large Volume Manufacturers (LVMs).  IVMs include manufacturers like JLR, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Subaru and Volvo.  If adopted, the percent of sales requirement for IVMs would, according to projections by CARB, change from 44% in 2025 to 18.4% in 2025 (assuming IVMs use TZEVs to comply). This is depicted in the figure below. 

  

At the workshop, CARB also intends to discuss changes that would reduce the compliance burden for IVMs that want the flexibility to pool compliance in ZEV states and to earn a reduced TZEV requirement. Currently, to have this flexibility, IVMs must deliver ZEVs to S.177 states prior to 2018, however, under the modifications being considered by CARB, IVMs would get an extra two years to comply with this requirement.

CARB will discuss the fast refueling and clarifying language related to that provision.

The schedule for finalizing the modifications that will be discussed at the workshop calls for the proposed amendments to be issued for public comment in early September and a Board Hearing in late October. 

Persons unable to attend in person may take part via webcast. The broadcast can be accessed on the day of the workshop at: http://www.calepa.ca.gov/broadcast/?BD0=1.  

Source: Mobilis Trading

 

 

 

 

 

GHG Emissions Credits Update

On April 25, 2014, EPA published a first of its kind report on light duty vehicle manufacturers' compliance with the agency's GHG emissions standards.  The report provides credit balances before and after credit trades or transfers through the 2012 model year.  For the 2012 model year, the report indicates that with respect to 2012My performance only (i.e., not counting trades and transfers), half of the manufacturers had net credit deficit and that about half the manufacturers used credits from transfers or trades to achieve a positive credit balance for the 2012 model year. 

With regard specifically to credit trading, the report indicates that six manufacturers participated in credit transactions as buyers or sellers of credits. Buyers of credits were Mercedes-Benz, Chrysler and Ferrari.  Sellers were Nissan, Honda and Tesla.  In the report, EPA stated "...this is the first time in an EPA light-duty vehicle emissions standards program that credit trading activity has occurred on such a scale, and it is clear that buying credits may be an important way for some manufacturers to bring their fleet into compliance and an incentive for other manufacturers to bring lower GHG vehicles to market early."  In the report, EPA also stated that "[t]he use of trading provisions in EPA's light-duty GHG program is a historic development, and one that EPA welcomes because we believe it will allow greater GHG reductions, lower compliance costs, and greater consumer choice." 

Based on the data contained in the report and the comments made by EPA, it appears that credit trading is here for the long haul.  Dale Kardos of Mobilis Trading believes that manufacturers looking to procure credits in the future will be able to obtain them at the least possible cost by running reverse auctions via the Mobilis Trading auction platform where a large supply of credits from multiple manufacturers will yield competitive market-based pricing.  He similarly believes that manufacturers with credits to sell can earn the most from their credits by initiating forward auctions via Mobilis where bidding from multiple buyers will ensure the best price possible at any given point in time.   

The new report from EPA can be found on the EPA website here.  Detailed credit balance data for each manufacturer for model years 2009-2012 is also available from EPA here.

Status of Early Credit Program for Model Years 2009-2011

EPA has published a report, “Status of Early Credit Program for Model Years 2009-2011” summarizing and explaining the credits reported by each manufacturer in the 2009-2011 model years.  The report also explains the options for earning and using early credits. According to EPA, the report is intended to be used as a reference for users of the early credits data, which they are making available in formats appropriate for importing into spreadsheets or database applications.  For a copy of the report, click Download EPA 2009-to-2011-early-credit-report-25mar13. 

Manufacturers interested in trading GHG credits should contact Dale Kardos at Mobilis Trading.

Monthly Regulatory & Legislative Tracking Reports Available for 2013 - Sign Up Now!

Since 1995, Dale Kardos & Associates, Inc. (DKA Inc.) has been supplying automakers, automotive suppliers and their trade associations with comprehensive detailed regulatory and legislative tracking reports.  Each month, DKA Inc. publishes the following three related, but uniquely-focused, tracking reports:

The Reg Update

The Reg Update is a monthly report that tracks the status of all North American regulatory activity concerning emissions, fuel economy (CO2) and safety (we track all regulatory actions of NHTSA, EPA, California Air Resources Board, Transport Canada, Environment Canada, and Section 177 States (i.e., states that have adopted CA’s Low Emission Vehicle program rules). For each rulemaking, the Reg Update provides electronic links to the latest official publications and includes information concerning comment period deadlines, anticipated future actions, projected implementation dates, and more.  In print since 1998, the Reg Update also serves as a tremendous archive of past actions. 

U.S. Motor Vehicle Safety and Legislative Update

The U.S. Motor Vehicle Safety & Legislative Update is a monthly report summarizing the past month’s legislative and regulatory activity concerning motor vehicle safety, emissions, and fuel economy/GHG issues.  The report provides brief summaries of and electronic links to key Federal Register notices, Congressional bills, public laws, NHTSA interpretation letters, recall listings, defect reports, NCAP test results, etc.  The report also covers financial incentive program announcements coming out of the Department of Energy, California and elsewhere.

Status of Motor Vehicle Related Legislation in the 113^th Congress

This report is devoted to keeping automakers and supplier up-to-date on the status of all legislation pending in the U.S. Congress that may potentially affect the auto industry.  We cover the introduction of all new bills and track their status over the course of the next two years.  We’ll provide updates on any official new activity related to the bill, increases in sponsorship, etc.  The report typically groups bills into the following categories:  Appropriations, Climate Change/GHG/Environment, Financial Incentive Programs, Biofuels and Flex Fuel Vehicles, Funding for Vehicle Development, Safety, Toxic Chemicals, misc.

 Report samples are available via the links below:

1.  Download REG UPDATE (SAMPLE - DEC 2012)

2. Download US Motor Vehicle Regulatory and Legislative Update (Dec 2012)

3. Download 111TH CONGRESS MOTOR VEHICLE LEGISLATION TRACKING SUMMARY (SAMPLE)

Pricing: The above reports can be purchased individually or at a discount (as a package).  A one year subscription is required (12 monthly updates).  For pricing and/or questions, please send an email to Dale Kardos ([email protected]).