[font face=Times, Times New Roman, Serif]January 27, 2012, 7:31 pm
[font size=5]California Board Votes Unanimously to Toughen Zero-Emission Vehicle Mandate[/font]
By JIM MOTAVALLI
[font size=3]In a unanimous vote on Friday, the California Air Resources Board, known as CARB, affirmed a major
expansion of its Advanced Clean Car rules. According to CARBs projection, the program would result in an additional 1.4 million zero- and near-zero-emission vehicles on the states roads by 2025.
Under the plan, 500,000 of those vehicles would be battery-
electric or fuel-cell models that produce no tailpipe emissions. The rest would be plug-in hybrids that qualify as transitional zero-emission vehicles. The recommendation had wide support from environmentalists and many automakers before the vote.
At least one provision, however, was
termed a loophole by some environmental groups. This provision would allow an automaker that surpassed the federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards in a particular year to accumulate credits. The credits could be applied in subsequent years, effectively delaying the automakers need to build zero-emission vehicles.
[link:
http://www.pluginamerica.org/|
Plug In America], a nonprofit group that advocates an accelerated shift to plug-in vehicles, called the provision a gaping loophole which will cause the loss of hundreds of thousands of plug-in cars in California.
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