The Environmental Protection Agency is targeting climate technology that automatically turns off a car’s engine when it is stopped at red lights to save fuel, a feature agency administrator Lee Zeldin said every driver “hates.”
“Start/stop technology: where your car dies at every red light so companies get a climate participation trophy,” Zeldin said Monday on X. “EPA approved it, and everyone hates it, so we’re fixing it.”
The feature has become common in new vehicles as a way to save money on gas and cut down on emissions.
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Advocates for the technology support it as a climate-friendly initiative, while critics find it annoying and question whether it can wear down the car’s battery or engine more quickly.
Cars generally have a button allowing drivers to disable the feature.
The EPA does not require stop-start technology, but automakers that adopt it are given extra fuel economy credits.
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The technology was included in 65% of vehicles in 2023, a jump from 45% in 2021, 9% in 2016 and 1% in 2012, according to the Battery Council International.
The feature can improve fuel economy by between 4% and 5%, previous EPA estimates showed. It also eliminated nearly 10 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year as of 2023, the BCI stated.
An EPA spokesperson told the New York Post that the stop-start systems have not shown clear reductions in emissions tests.
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