This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains notices to the public of the proposed

issuance of rules and regulations. The

purpose of these notices is to give interested

persons an opportunity to participate in the

rule making prior to the adoption of the final

rules.

Proposed Rules Federal Register

67682 

Vol. 88, No. 189 

Monday, October 2, 2023 

1Comments from the Alliance for Automotive 

Innovation, June 12, 2023 (Auto Innovator 

Comments). 

2Comments from Porsche Cars North America, 

Inc., June 12, 2023, at 3. 

3 DOE posted a memorandum regarding ex parte 

communication in the docket for this rulemaking 

the same day as it posted this request. This 

memorandum states that DOE sent the posted 

letters to members of Auto Innovators on September 

14, 2023. 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

10 CFR Part 474 

[EERE–2021–VT–0033] 

RIN 1904–AF47 

Petroleum-Equivalent Fuel Economy 

Calculation 

AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy, Department of 

Energy. 

ACTION: Notification of ex parte 

communication; request for comments. 

SUMMARY: On April 11, 2023, the U.S. 

Department of Energy (DOE) published 

a notice of proposed rulemaking 

(NOPR), in which DOE proposed 

regulations regarding procedures for 

calculating a value for the petroleum 

equivalent fuel economy of electric 

vehicles (EVs) for use in the Corporate 

Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) program 

administered by the Department of 

Transportation (DOT). In their 

comments to DOE’s NOPR, the Alliance 

for Automotive Innovation (Auto 

Innovators) raised the issue of the 

ability of manufacturers to comply with 

the proposed PEF in 2027 due to vehicle 

design cycles. DOE is providing notice 

that it sent follow-up letters to member 

companies of the Auto Innovators 

inviting the companies to provide 

information to clarify the challenges to 

implementing the revised standard to 

apply to model year (MY) 2027–2031 

vehicles as proposed. In this notice and 

request for comment, DOE requests 

additional comment on the questions 

posed to the Auto Innovator members 

providing a similar opportunity to all 

stakeholders. 

DATES: The comment period for the 

NOPR that published on April 11, 2023, 

closed on June 12, 2023 (88 FR 21525). 

DOE will accept comments responding 

to this document on or before October 

17, 2023. 

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are 

encouraged to submit comments using 

the Federal eRulemaking Portal at 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

Alternatively, interested persons may 

submit comments, identified by RIN 

1904–AF47, by any of the following 

methods: 

Federal eRulemaking Portal: 

www.regulations.gov/docket/EERE2021-VT-0033. Follow the instructions 

for submitting comments. 

Email: pefpetition2021vt0033@

ee.doe.gov. Include the RIN 1904–AF47 

in the subject line of the message. 

Postal Mail: U.S. Department of 

Energy, RIN 1904–AF47, 1000 

Independence Avenue SW, Washington, 

DC 20585. If possible, please submit all 

items on a compact disc (‘‘CD’’), in 

which case it is not necessary to include 

printed copies. 

No telefacsimilies (faxes) will be 

accepted. Hand delivered comments 

may be accepted upon request. For 

detailed instructions on submitting 

comments and additional information 

on the rulemaking process, see Public 

Participation section for details. 

Docket: The docket, which includes 

Federal Register notices, comments, 

and other supporting documents/ 

materials, is available for review at 

www.regulations.gov. All documents in 

the docket are listed in the 

www.regulations.gov index. However, 

some documents listed in the index 

such as those containing information 

that is exempt from public disclosure, 

may not be publicly available. 

The docket web page can be found at 

the www.regulations.gov web page 

associated with RIN 1904–AF47. The 

docket web page contains simple 

instructions on how to access all 

documents, including public comments, 

in the docket. See Public Participation 

for information on how to submit 

comments through 

www.regulations.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Mr. Kevin Stork, U.S. Department of 

Energy, Vehicle Technologies Office, 

EE–3V, 1000 Independence Avenue SW, 

Washington, DC 20585. Telephone: 

(202) 586–8306. Email: Kevin.Stork@

ee.doe.gov. 

Ms. Laura Zuber, U.S. Department of 

Energy, Office of the General Counsel, 

GC–33, 1000 Independence Avenue SW, 

Washington, DC 20585–0121. 

Telephone: (240) 306–7651. Email: 

Laura.Zuber@hq.doe.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Request for Comments 

On April 11, 2023, DOE proposed to 

update the petroleum-equivalency factor 

used to calculate the fuel economy of 

electric vehicles (EVs). 88 FR 21525. 

DOE proposed that the revised PEF 

value apply to MY 2027 vehicles. 88 FR 

21531. DOE noted that the proposed 

PEF value would cover the same 

vehicles covered by the NHTSA CAFE 

regulation. In the NOPR, DOE requested 

comments on this proposed approach. 

Id. 

Several commenters submitted 

comments in response to this specific 

request. Specifically, Auto Innovators 

raised concerns related to the proposed 

effective date.1 Auto Innovators argued 

that because engine design and 

development cycles are typically much 

longer than three years, there are 

extremely limited opportunities for 

engine redesign for model year 2027 

vehicles. Auto Innovator Comments at 

17. In addition, Auto Innovators took 

the position that there is ‘‘insufficient 

lead-time’’ because the proposed PEF 

value would ‘‘require even more rapid 

improvements to CAFE performance,’’ 

but that ‘‘product planning decisions 

have already been made.’’ Id. Another 

commenter suggested that if DOE did 

move forward with decreased PEF 

value, that the decreased PEF value 

should not apply until after 2031.2

On September 14, 2023, DOE sent 

letters to member companies of Auto 

Innovators inviting them to clarify 

comments regarding the effective date.3

DOE posted a memorandum in the 

docket for this rulemaking that 

identifies the recipients of these letters 

and includes a PDF of the letters. 

Responses to that letter will be included 

in the docket for this rulemaking (except 

information deemed to be exempt from 

public disclosure). 

DOE is taking public comment on the 

same two questions that DOE posed to 

the Auto Innovators: 

1. Identify specific situations where 

there is a risk that an automaker would 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with PROPOSALS1
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 189 / Monday, October 2, 2023 / Proposed Rules 67683 

have lead time challenges should the 

NOPR be finalized as proposed. 

2. Provide information, data, and 

associated analysis detailing specific 

challenges regarding to lead time. 

Public Participation 

DOE will accept data and information 

responding to this document, but no 

later than the date provided in the DATES

section at the beginning of this 

document. Interested parties may 

submit the requested data and 

information using any of the methods 

described in the ADDRESSES section at 

the beginning of this document. 

Submitting responses via 

www.regulations.gov. The 

www.regulations.gov web page will 

require you to provide your name and 

contact information. Your contact 

information will be viewable to DOE 

Building Technologies staff only. Your 

contact information will not be publicly 

viewable except for your first and last 

names, organization name (if any), and 

submitter representative name (if any). 

If your response is not processed 

properly because of technical 

difficulties, DOE will use this 

information to contact you. If DOE 

cannot read your response due to 

technical difficulties and cannot contact 

you for clarification, DOE may not be 

able to consider your response. 

However, your contact information 

will be publicly viewable if you include 

it in the response itself or in any 

documents attached to your response. 

Any information that you do not want 

to be publicly viewable should not be 

included in your response, nor in any 

document attached to your response. 

Persons viewing responses will see only 

first and last names, organization 

names, correspondence containing 

responses, and any documents 

submitted with the responses. 

Do not submit to www.regulations.gov 

information for which disclosure is 

restricted by statute, such as trade 

secrets and commercial or financial 

information (hereinafter referred to as 

Confidential Business Information 

(CBI)). Responses submitted through 

www.regulations.gov cannot be claimed 

as CBI. Responses received through the 

website will waive any CBI claims for 

the information submitted. For 

information on submitting CBI, see the 

Confidential Business Information 

section. 

DOE processes submissions made 

through www.regulations.gov before 

posting. Normally, responses will be 

posted within a few days of being 

submitted. However, if large volumes of 

responses are being processed 

simultaneously, your response may not 

be viewable for up to several weeks. 

Please keep the tracking number that 

www.regulations.gov provides after you 

have successfully uploaded your 

response. 

Submitting comments via email or 

postal mail. Responses and documents 

submitted via email or postal mail also 

will be posted to www.regulations.gov. 

If you do not want your personal contact 

information to be publicly viewable, do 

not include it in your response or any 

accompanying documents. Instead, 

provide your contact information in a 

cover letter. Include your first and last 

names, email address, telephone 

number, and optional mailing address. 

The cover letter will not be publicly 

viewable as long as it does not include 

any requested information. 

Include contact information each time 

you submit responses, data, documents, 

and other information to DOE. If you 

submit via postal mail please provide all 

items on a CD, if feasible, in which case 

it is not necessary to submit printed 

copies. No telefacsimiles (‘‘faxes’’) will 

be accepted. 

Responses, data, and other 

information submitted to DOE 

electronically should be provided in 

PDF (preferred), Microsoft Word or 

Excel, WordPerfect, or text (ASCII) file 

format. Provide documents that are not 

secured, that are written in English, and 

that are free of any defects or viruses. 

Documents should not contain special 

characters or any form of encryption 

and, if possible, they should carry the 

electronic signature of the author. 

Campaign form letters. Please submit 

campaign form letters by the originating 

organization in batches of between 50 to 

500 form letters per PDF or as one form 

letter with a list of supporters’ names 

compiled into one or more PDFs. This 

reduces processing and posting time. 

Confidential Business Information. 

Pursuant to 10 CFR 1004.11, any person 

submitting information that he or she 

believes to be confidential and exempt 

by law from public disclosure should 

submit via email two well-marked 

copies: one copy of the document 

marked ‘‘confidential’’ including all the 

information believed to be confidential, 

and one copy of the document marked 

‘‘non-confidential’’ with the information 

believed to be confidential deleted. DOE 

will make its own determination about 

the confidential status of the 

information and treat it according to its 

determination. 

It is DOE’s policy that all responses 

may be included in the public docket, 

without change and as received, 

including any personal information 

provided in the comments (except 

information deemed to be exempt from 

public disclosure). 

Signing Authority 

This document of the Department of 

Energy was signed on September 26, 

2023, by Jeffrey Marootian, Principal 

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy 

Efficiency and Renewable Energy, 

pursuant to delegated authority from the 

Secretary of Energy. That document 

with the original signature and date is 

maintained by DOE. For administrative 

purposes only, and in compliance with 

requirements of the Office of the Federal 

Register, the undersigned DOE Federal 

Register Liaison Officer has been 

authorized to sign and submit the 

document in electronic format for 

publication, as an official document of 

the Department of Energy. This 

administrative process in no way alters 

the legal effect of this document upon 

publication in the Federal Register. 

Signed in Washington, DC, on September 

27. 2023. 

Treena V. Garrett, 

Federal Register Liaison Officer, U.S. 

Department of Energy. 

[FR Doc. 2023–21654 Filed 9–29–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Aviation Administration 

14 CFR Parts 25, 27, 29, 91, 121, 125, 

and 135 

[Docket No.: FAA–2019–0491; Notice No. 

23–12] 

RIN 2120–AK34 

Interior Parts and Components Fire 

Protection for Transport Category 

Airplanes; Extension of Comment 

Period 

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA), Department of 

Transportation (DOT). 

ACTION: Supplemental notice of 

proposed rulemaking (SNPRM); 

Extension of comment period. 

SUMMARY: This action extends the 

comment period for a SNPRM titled 

‘‘Interior Parts and Components Fire 

Protection for Transport Category 

Airplanes’’ that was published on 

August 17, 2023. In that document, the 

FAA provided additional information 

on its proposed elimination of a smoke 

emissions testing requirement. The FAA 

also changed its calculations related to 

the proposed rule’s costs and benefits. 

The FAA is extending the comment 

period closing date to allow commenters 


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