Why We Need Electric Cars
(Page 6 of 7)
October/November 2006
By Steve Heckeroth
Then the campaign went into high gear. Political campaign-style ads started appearing on TV. The ads appeared to be produced by concerned citizen groups and suggested that government regulation was going to cost the California taxpayer $28 billion and force everyone into cars that would leave people stranded on the road when their batteries died.
RELATED CONTENT
Read about how UPS expects to save 176,000 gallons of fuel per year, thereby reducing their CO2 emi...
This annual guide will help you identify the most fuel-efficient vehicle for your needs. The best o...
Ford has shipped its fleet of Th!nk electric vehicles (EVs) back to Norway instead of crushing them...
Two new government projects to develop electric vehicles will advance the United States’ economic r...
Roads Less Traveled December/January 2000 There may be no such thing as a free lunch, but sometimes...
The more than $30 million spent in the campaign amounted to only a few minutes of the auto and oil industries’ annual revenue, but it had a significant effect: Hundreds of companies that were gearing up to produce EV components went out of business. In 1996, the Board eliminated the 2 percent requirement for 1998 and the 5 percent requirement for 2001, but tried to save face by leaving the 10 percent requirement in place for 2003.
Most of the automakers had continued developing EVs in case they could not stop the mandate. In late ’96, GM started to lease the EV1. Toyota started leasing its RAV4 EV in ’97. Honda, Ford, Nissan and Chrysler also offered a limited number of EVs in the following years. But every automaker maintained control of its EVs, primarily by only offering the cars for lease. The lone exception was that Toyota sold about 150 RAV4 EVs in late 2002; I bought one and it now has 56,000 miles and still runs 80 to 100 miles on a charge.
In 2000, the automakers were just three years away from the 10 percent stage of the ZEV mandate. Ford said it could try to meet a revised 2003 requirement. GM, on the other hand, made a series of moves that would culminate in the recall and crushing of the EV1 and the end of GM’s electric vehicle program.
In January 2001, the Board reduced the 2003 requirement to 2 percent. Soon thereafter, GM filed a lawsuit against the state of California. The suit alleged that the Board could find more cost-effective ways to reduce air pollution than by imposing the production of EVs on the auto industry. In June 2002, the federal government joined GM’s lawsuit. A federal judge then issued an injunction preventing the Board from enforcing the 2001 requirement. Then, in April 2003, the automakers and the federal government won, while the public lost: The Board abandoned the mandate.
Plug-in Future
Last year, in response to increasing concerns about the effects of global warming, California passed limits on cars’ CO2 emissions. Again, all the major automakers filed suit against the state of California. Seven northeastern states also have adopted California’s standards. Such moves are part of a growing grass-roots effort by local governments to deal with issues such as climate change and our reliance on oil. (To learn more, visit the Union of Concerned Scientists.)
Page:
<< Previous 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 | 6 |
7 |
Next >>
