CAFE laws are laws that lawmakers pass to show the voters that they’re “doing something”. Such a directive will be unenforcable and will have only minimal compliance from automakers.
Automakers will provide “show” vehicles that nobody buys that get 55 mpg. Everyone else will buy the 22 mpg models.
One unintended consequence will be that people will keep their old cars and create more pollution. Older cars emit real pollution (carbon MONOxide, sulfur, NOx) in greater amounts than new cars.
That’s what I was thinking, but.....the article is so poorly written it leaves a bunch of stuff out so I can’t really determine with assurance if this is a tweak of the old CAFE standard or whether it’s something entirely new.