The Heartland Institutes reports on a new study by the Congressional Budget Office that pegged the cost of hypothetical higher CAFE standards at $3.6 billion per year with consumers paying an "extra $2.4 billion a year and the auto industry another $1.2 billion." Furthermore, CBO explained that "[h]igher CAFE standards could ... reduce social welfare by worsening traffic congestion and increasing the number of traffic accidents. That undesirable outcome could occur because higher CAFE standards would lower the per-mile cost of driving, providing new-vehicle owners with an incentive to drive more."
Thus, the cost of increasing new vehicle fuel economy by about 10% could well be not just a ffinancial cost, but also more traffic jams, accidents, and, of course, the associated waste of fuel and increased air pollution.
Read Heartland Institute story
Read CBO Study