Electric car on the chopping block?
Wired is keeping track of this one in their blog, and for good reason. While I don’t think the vote will “kill” the electric car, it will turn automakers urgency down a few thousand decibels.
Thursday, the California Air Resources Board - the group which decides how many zero-emissions cars automakers have to produce and on what schedule - will be voting to lower these standards.
Yep, lower. :( They say they’re trying to be more reasonable, and give manufacturers a chance to work out problems like battery issues and the like, with an emphasis on perfectly technologies already in place - like PHEVs and hydrogen fuel-cells.
What do you think? Do the Air Resources Board demands promote research in these areas, or are automakers on this green streak because plug-ins and hydrogen fuel cells are going to be money makers?? I have to lean toward gov’t regulation on this one, and that being the case, I don’t see how lowering expectations are going to be very helpful.
No one argues plug-in hybrids aren’t a big step in the right direction. But ZEV advocates say they shouldn’t come at the expense of pollution-free electric and fuel cell vehicles. “They should be pushing both,” says Spencer Quong of the Union of Concerned Scientists.
That’s the only way California can meet its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 80 percent of 1990 level by 2050. Hitting that target requires putting 379,000 zero emission vehicles on the road by 2020, Quong says.
I’m with Spencer on this one. There’s no reason companies can’t continue to focus on both. Without the incentive, it isn’t very likely they will focus much at all on zero emissions vehicles until today’s “new” technology is already making money.
Of course, automakers who are already churning out electrics had plenty to say on the subject, including “Are you kidding?” (Okay, so that wasn’t quoted exactly … what you can totally hear them saying it. Seriously.)
Tags: california air resources board, electric car legislationRelated Stories
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4 opinions for Electric car on the chopping block?
Thomas C. Gray
Mar 26, 2008 at 5:14 pm
Anyone who’s stupid enough to believe that battery only EVs represent a viable alternative to the gas powered car are living in a fantasy world and are conning the public into accepting crap, and paying thru the nose for the privilege of being fleeced by those “cheap” electrics (like the $90,000 impotent Tesla) . When Missubishi and a few others roll out their overpriced can’t- do electrics two years from now, we’ll see that you really can’t kill an electric car because, guess what? They’re already dead. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. California airheads unite!
Hilary
Mar 26, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Hey Tom! You’re always such a character. Thanks for stopping by.
In response to your comment, the Tesla Roadster is the equivalent to the Lotus Elite, not the Buick LaSabre. Miles Motors is coming out with an all-electric sedan next year for $30,000. Not an EV, but an electric car … and it looks sweet. I’ll post pics later. :)
Electric car on the chopping block? | Hydrogen Fuel Cell . Net
Mar 26, 2008 at 6:04 pm
[…] Do the Air Resources Board demands promote research in these areas, or are automakers on this green streak because plug-ins and hydrogen fuel cells are going to be money makers?? I have to lean toward gov’t regulation on this one, … Read More […]
matt
Mar 27, 2008 at 7:43 pm
This type of move by our state government is completely unwarranted. I’d like to think the manufacturers will continue to push forward as if nothing changed, but that may be too much to ask.
And California of all places! We’re supposed to be in some sort of ‘leading edge’ role, as far as emissions regulation, etc.
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