Quantify vehicle technology effectiveness to support U.S. DOT NHTSA fuel economy regulations with Autonomie.

In 1975, Congress passed the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA), requiring standards for corporate average fuel economy (CAFE), and charging the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) with the establishment and enforcement of these standards. The Secretary of Transportation has delegated these responsibilities to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

The Argonne National Laboratory Vehicle & Systems Mobility Group (VMS) uses Autonomie, our industry-standard tool for analyzing vehicle performance, energy consumption, and technology effectiveness, to support NHTSA CAFE rulemaking. More than 2 million individual vehicle designs were considered for the 2024–2026 CAFE light-duty rulemaking.

For more information, you can read and download:

• The Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards for Model Years 2024-2026 Passenger Cars and Light Trucks full report;
• The Autonomie vehicle system simulation files, including results, assumptions, and inputs, and the full report; and
• The battery manufacturing cost estimation (BatPaC), as well as the Argonne Advanced Mobility Technology Laboratory (AMTL) vehicle benchmarking and Autonomie model development and validation reports. (link)

Technologies Considered for the Argonne Autonomie CAFE 2022 – 2026 NPRM Analysis