Once again, the state known nearly as much for explosive road rage as it is for Hollywood entertainment is leading the way on regulations to curb the quantity of exhaust-belching cars that are sold at dealerships – only to be driven to a fuming standstill on local highways.
On Friday, January 27, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) voted to adopt a visionary Advanced Clean Car package of regulations, which, starting in the 2018 model year, will require state auto dealers to stock and sell many more transitional zero-emission vehicles (TZEVs). All but the smallest automakers will be subject to the rules.
According to the CARB, the proposed rules “are designed to ensure the development of environmentally superior cars with a full range of models, from compacts to SUVs and pickups that will continue to deliver the performance, utility, and safety vehicle owners have come to expect; with significant savings, thanks to reduced operating costs.”
The board predicts that, when the regulations have been fully implemented, “annual fuel costs to operate a car will be reduced by an average of 25 percent, with an overall cumulative savings of $22 billion by 2025.” In addition, CARB economic analysis indicates that the overall savings generated by the proposed rules will result in an additional 21,000 jobs in California in 2025, rising to 37,000 in 2030. In total, the package of regulations covers:
Under the Advanced Clean Car regulations, by 2025, fully 15.4 percent of the cars sold annually in California must be zero-emission vehicles – either battery-electric and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles, or plug-in hybrids that can run electric-only for at least several miles.
David Friedman (News - Alert), deputy director of the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Clean Vehicles program, said the state was “putting the pedal to the metal on electric cars and healthier air” and giving car buyers “a real choice between the fuels of the past and the clean cars of the future.”
“These robust, zero-emission vehicle standards will provide the market assurance automakers and the energy industry need to transform the electric vehicle into a mass-market success,” said Don Anair, senior engineer with the UCS Clean Vehicles program. “This landmark initiative will strengthen California's emerging electric vehicles industry – creating jobs and making zero-emission vehicles more affordable for consumers.”
California’s fuel-economy regulations tend to become de facto standards for other states. Any mandate put forward that specified the types of cars to be built and sold in the state could very well be adopted elsewhere. According to UCS, seven northeastern states – New York, Massachusetts,Vermont, Maine, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Rhode Island – which adopted the earlier Low Emission Vehicle (LEV) program (passed by the ARB in 1998) also are likely to adopt these new standards. Indeed, several already have stated their intentions to do so. Canada also has expressed interest in implementing California’s program.
California’s regulators helped develop the Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFÉ Standards, released last May by the U.S. Department of Transportation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Those standards require car fleets to achieve average fuel economy of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025.
Specifically, the Advanced Clean Car Program will comprise four separate, but related components:
- Greenhouse gas standard for cars and light trucks, model years 2017-2025 Greenhouse gas emissions from cars will be cut 34 percent from 2016 levels. Many of the technologies that reduce climate change emissions also significantly reduce the operating costs of passenger vehicles on a month-to-month basis for consumers. CARB analysis indicates that the advanced technologies used to achieve the new smog and greenhouse gas standards will increase a new vehicle’s price in 2025 by about $1,900 – a sum more than offset by $6,000 in fuel cost savings over the life of the car. This will reduce the monthly cost of a new car by $12, even when considering the higher cost of the loan or lease.
- Smog-forming emissions reductions California must reduce smog-forming pollution by an additional 75 percent from 2014 levels to help meet more stringent federal air-quality standards expected in the next few years. Since California continues to have the nation’s worst air quality, and has more than 26 million cars on the road, it is necessary to further reduce smog-forming pollution from cars. This regulation will drive the development of the cleanest cars yet that use diesel, gasoline, or typical gas-electric hybrid internal combustion engines.
- Zero emissions vehicle regulation This regulation builds on the program in place since 1990 and is designed to rapidly increase ZEV production to early commercial volumes, establishing a sustainable and growing market for these advanced technology vehicles. This will place California on a path to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050 – a goal adopted by many nations and believed necessary to stabilize climate temperature. The ZEV amendments include a provision that enables automakers that substantially over-comply with their national GHG emission requirements across their entire fleet to offset their ZEV requirement.The ZEV regulation will result in 1.4 million ZEVs on the road by 2025 (15.4 percent of new vehicle sales in that year) in order to be on track to reach the 2050 greenhouse gas reduction goal. A transitional model – the plug-in hybrid car – will play a significant role over the next 20 years – but, by mid-century, 87 percent of cars on the road will need to be full zero-emission vehicles to achieve climate goals.
- Clean Fuel Outlets This regulation is designed to support the commercialization of zero-emission hydrogen fuel cell vehicles planned by five vehicle manufacturers by 2015 by requiring the construction of hydrogen fueling stations. Construction of the new stations will provide a convenient fueling infrastructure – first, within the major air basins; but, ultimately, throughout the state. The number of stations will expand as vehicle manufacturers sell more fuel cell vehicles.
The Sacramento-based ARB's mission is to promote and protect public health, welfare, and ecological resources through effective reduction of air pollutants while recognizing and considering effects on the economy.
“Californians have always loved their cars ...Now we're going to have cleaner and more efficient cars to love,” CARB Chairman Mary Nichols said on a conference call with reporters following the vote. “This really is an historic new chapter in California's history with the automobile.“
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Cheryl Kaften is an accomplished communicator who has written for consumer and corporate audiences. She has worked extensively for MasterCard (News - Alert) Worldwide, Philip Morris USA (Altria), and KPMG, and has consulted for Estee Lauder and the Philadelphia Inquirer Newspapers. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.Edited by
Jennifer Russell
