California Reconsiders Electric Vehicles

The California Air Resources Board will hold a meeting on March 27 to consider changes to the state's zero emission vehicle (ZEV) requirements. Board members will listen to public comment and consider whether to increase the number of emissions-free cars that automakers who sell vehicles in California are required to produce annually.

Plug In America, a non-profit organization with board members include R. James Woolsey, former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency; Ze’ev Drori, CEO of Tesla Motors, sent a letter to Governor Schwarzenegger (who appointed the board) to consider reviving the ZEV requirements from the 1990s that sparked the creation of electric vehicles such as GM's EV1.

Plug In America's letter states that the current proposal would not put more EVs on the road.

But new revisions by the Board’s staff will profoundly weaken the program again instead of propelling our country toward a pollution-free future. This proposal would require each automaker to produce only about 150 ZEVs per year through 2015.

That’s less than what consumers are demanding, less than the number of ZEVs that can be produced today—let alone three years from now—less than what’s needed to meet state goals for emission reductions, and less than what these regulators required in 2003 when they helped kill the electric car the first time.

California is in a unique position to force automakers into making EVs because of power granted to them through the Clean Air Act. Automakers can today argue that the technology isn't quite ready for an affordable mass-produced EV, but in future years that position will be increasingly difficult to defend.

With companies such as Phoenix Motorcars, Tesla, ZENN, ZAP and others closing in on cost-effective road worthy vehicles with 50 miles or more of battery life, Big Auto will have many competitors. CARB should consider increasing the ZEV requirement in 2011 or after because the technology will be ready.