New Delhi: The government has finally rolled out the draft Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency 3 (CAFE 3) rules, a fresh set of fuel efficiency norms that will apply from April 2027 to March 2032. The new framework is stricter than the current CAFE 2 standards, but it also gives breathing space to small cars and pushes electric vehicles, hybrids and flex-fuel technology right into the spotlight.

I’ve spent the better part of my morning trying to make sense of the numbers and formulas, and let me tell you, it feels like solving a math problem with wheels attached. Still, once you break it down, it’s quite clear how this is going to impact what we see on our roads by the end of the decade.

How CAFE 3 is different

Unlike the earlier plan that had a fixed CO₂ cap, CAFE 3 links everything to

See Full Page