California revises battery car rule again and puts out new requirement
California revises battery car rule again and puts out new requirement
California’s clean air regulators voted Thursday to revise – yet again – state rules that originally directed automakers to put hundreds of thousands of zero-emission vehicles on the road by 2003.
The new requirement is for 7,500 zero-emission vehicles in the period 2012-14, or about a 70 percent reduction from 2003 targets.
But there are other provisions for vehicles the board calls partial zero emission vehicles, or PZEVs, and advanced technology partial zero emission vehicles, or AT-PZEVs. Those were revised to require 66,000 plug-in electric hybrids, which would rely mainly on batteries but also have internal combustion engines on board.
First adopted in 1990, the program was modified in 1996, 1998, 2001 and 2003 – in part to settle an industry lawsuit against it.
The program, called the ZEV mandate, is a separate set of regulations from the greenhouse gas emissions rules that are the subject of a hotly contested and ongoing fight among states, the federal government and the auto industry.
But the California Air Resources Board said it will seek to simplify the ZEV mandate and better coordinate it with the greenhouse gas rules in the future, according to a board statement.
The main ZEV mandate obstacle: Battery-electric vehicle technology has not developed as rapidly or successfully as regulators hoped.
Vehicles powered with hydrogen fuel cells also would have zero emissions, but they too are not ready for the mass market.
The latest revision further cuts the number of zero-emission vehicles required in coming years – but board members didn’t go as low as its staff recommended.
Board Chairwoman Mary Nichols said in a statement, ” Today’s decision will lead to more green auto choices for consumers now while keeping the pressure on the automotive engineers to continue fine tuning the technologies that will yield an all electric-drive vehicle fleet for California in the near future. We must continue to push for all types of technologies — fuel cells, electric vehicles and hydrogen powered cars — as we fight our duel battles against smog and global warming.”
A spokesman for General Motors said a key to achieving even California’s lowered target announced on Thursday was to develop a hydrogen fueling infrastructure to support the planned growth in fuel cell vehicles.
“We can get the vehicle engineering done. The key piece is to get the infrastructure in place,” said GM spokesman Dave Barthmuss.
The No. 1 U.S. automaker has one car in development, the fuel-cell Chevrolet Equinox, that meets the zero-emission mandate. The Equinox is in limited road tests with California-based Walt Disney, airline Virgin Atlantic and select drivers who live near hydrogen stations.
Honda has begun leasing a limited number of its own fuel cell vehicle — the FCX Clarity — in Southern California.
One of the backers of the rules, the American Lung Association of California, said it was disappointed by the board’s decision.
The association, in a statement, said it ” strongly urged the board to keep the existing 25,000 vehicle requirement and even to re-assert the board’s original goal that 10 percent of new vehicle sales should be zero emission vehicles by 2020.”
The group also said ” the numbers of plug-in electric vehicles included in the regulation are also fewer than warranted by recent advances in battery technology and do not challenge the industry.”
California revises battery car rule again and puts out new requirement - Editing by David Yang
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