California regulators have drastically cut the number of zero-emission vehicles required to be sold in the state by the year 2014.
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The Associated Press (AP) noted that the decision frustrated environmentalists but came as a relief to automakers.
The rules adopted Thursday put the number of electric and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles that automakers sell in California at 7,500 by 2014 – a 70% reduction from the 2003 target, the report said.
“We are disappointed. We think this proposal doesn’t take us on the road to meeting the state’s long-term global warming goals,” Spencer Quong, a senior vehicles analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists, told the news agency.
Auto manufacturers reportedly said they could not meet the California standard and needed more time to make affordable hydrogen and battery-powered cars.
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By GlobalData“Pushing this technology into the market before they are commercially viable ties up resources that could be better utilised by advancing core technologies,” Sara Rudy, an emissions regulatory manager at Ford, told AP, adding: “It is important at this stage to be nimble.”
The other manufacturers that must comply with the rules are General Motors, Toyota, Honda, Chrysler and Nissan Motor, the report said, adding that the decision also is expected to affect 12 other states that had adopted California’s target for zero-emission vehicles.
In essence, the Associated Press said, the air board took two steps: It cut the number of zero-emission vehicles it wants on state’s roads, while at the same time offering an alternative: the petrol-electric hybrids.
The air board said the six largest automakers must sell nearly 60,000 plug-in hybrid vehicles in California while they develop the more advanced technology that will allow mass production of pure zero-emission vehicles.
Board chairwoman Mary Nichols described the move as a major step toward putting cleaner cars on the road. The plug-in hybrids envisioned by the air board have yet to be produced but are in development by several automakers, AP added.
AP noted that California adopted its zero-emission vehicle mandate in 1990 as part of an attempt to reduce smog-forming emissions such as nitrogen oxide.
The rule required that 10% of new cars sold in the state by the country’s six leading auto manufacturers be completely non-polluting by 2003 but he rules have been modified four times since they were introduced.
The biggest change came in 2003, when the Air Resources Board significantly scaled back the mandate and ruled that hydrogen cars, hybrids and cleaner-burning petrol vehicles could meet the state’s goals, AP said, adding that the regulators were concerned that battery-powered cars could not be mass-produced and favoured hydrogen cars. They also faced a lawsuit from the auto industry.
