By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Tesla (NASDAQ:) Inc is pressing President Joe Biden’s administration and a U.S. appeals court to move quickly to hike civil penalties for automakers failing to meet fuel economy requirements.

Tesla is an electric vehicle company that sells credits to automakers for them to comply with emission regulations. The credits have been deemed less valuable by the Trump administration’s changes to rules. According to an agency document, Tesla met virtualy on August 30th with representatives from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

NHTSA sent a notice to the public on August 18 warning that they could increase penalties for previous model year automakers for not meeting fuel efficiency regulations. But, it will consider first all comments.

Automakers warn that they could face increased penalties of up to $1 billion per year for not complying with rules as well as higher credit prices.

Trump’s January shutdown delayed the 2016 regulation, which more than doubled penalty for automakers that failed to conform with Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency (CAFE) standards.

Tesla recommended that NHTSA stop Trump’s actions immediately. The memo stated that it would “produce continuing uncertainty in investment and transactions across industry”, and that any delay will have adverse effects on credit markets until the problem is solved. Tesla also stated in the memo that any delays “will continue to have adverse effects on credit market.”

Separately, Tesla asked the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on August 27 to immediately reinstate steeper penalties. In April, Tesla requested that the court take immediate action while NHTSA is reviewed. The court denied Tesla’s request.

“The uncertainty perpetuated by NHTSA’s sluggish rulemaking pace is thus compounded by the likelihood of yet another round of litigation,” Tesla wrote, warning uncertainty “may linger for several more years.”

A group representing major automakers including General Motors (NYSE:), Toyota Motor (NYSE:), Ford Motor (NYSE:) and Volkswagen (DE:), asked the court to reject Tesla’s request. The group submitted in court that Tesla may benefit from having more information about its CAFE credit value. It is not an excuse to stop an ongoing administrative procedure.

Higher penalties had been set to begin in the 2019 model-year under former President Barack Obama. But Trump changed that date. NHTSA may reintroduce the Obama rule.

The CAFE penalties from the previous year, still unassigned, could have repercussions that can cost Chrysler parent Stellantis hundreds and millions of dollars. They also may increase Tesla’s credit value.

Stellantis estimated that costs related to higher CAFE penalties could amount to approximately 521 million Euros ($609 Million) in August. Fiat Chrysler was fined nearly $150m for not meeting 2016 and 2017 requirements.