name: FuelEconomy.gov API FinOps Framework
description: >-
  FinOps cost management profile for FuelEconomy.gov API usage. The API is a
  free U.S. federal government public data service with no direct costs to
  consumers. FinOps considerations center on internal infrastructure costs
  for teams integrating the API (compute, storage, egress) rather than
  API usage fees.
specificationVersion: "1.0"
provider: FuelEconomy.gov (DOE / EPA / Oak Ridge National Laboratory)
costModel: free
currency: USD
domains:
  - name: Understanding Cloud Usage and Cost
    description: >-
      No direct API usage costs. Organizations should track indirect costs
      such as compute resources used to call the API, storage for cached
      responses or bulk data files, and engineering time for integration.
    recommendations:
      - Cache API responses to minimize redundant calls and reduce compute costs
      - Use bulk CSV/XML downloads for large data ingestion rather than
        repeated per-vehicle REST calls
      - Track internal engineering and infrastructure costs associated with
        integration and maintenance
  - name: Cost Optimization
    description: >-
      Optimize by leveraging bulk data downloads for batch processing
      workloads instead of high-frequency individual API calls.
    recommendations:
      - Download the all-model-years CSV (updated weekly) for analytics
        workloads that do not require real-time data
      - Implement response caching with appropriate TTLs (fuel prices may
        change; vehicle records are stable)
      - Use the vehicle menu endpoint hierarchy to avoid unnecessary
        full-record lookups
  - name: Planning and Forecasting
    description: >-
      No subscription or per-call fees to forecast. Budget planning should
      account for downstream infrastructure costs only.
    recommendations:
      - Forecast storage costs if persisting bulk downloads (CSV files
        covering 1974-present model years)
      - Plan for periodic re-ingestion of updated data files as EPA
        revises fuel economy estimates
  - name: Organizational Alignment
    description: >-
      Align usage with open government data policies. The API is provided
      under U.S. federal open data principles with no licensing restrictions
      for commercial or non-commercial use.
    recommendations:
      - Attribute data to FuelEconomy.gov / U.S. DOE / U.S. EPA per
        government data usage guidelines
      - Subscribe to the FuelEconomy.gov data services mailing list
        (FuelEconomyNews-join@elist.ornl.gov) to receive update notifications