[rush's link http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-fuel-standards-fight-20180202-story.html ]
California wants more electric cars. The Trump administration doesn't. Automakers are in the hot seat Feb 02, 2018 ... The Trump administration is moving to free the companies of such obligations and even has threatened to strip California of its power to impose existing requirements within its borders ... Carmakers are left to gamble on how aggressively to follow California's blueprint as the Trump administration tries to undermine it ... [... auto] companies are keenly aware that ignoring the plans laid by California can be perilous. They can't afford to manufacture different cars for different parts of the country, and California plans to keep the current, ambitious fuel economy goal and the electric-vehicle mandate that goes hand in hand with it. So unless the Trump administration can block the state from going its own way, relaxing federal rules won't help the automakers much ... Environmental Protection Agency keeps threatening to challenge California's authority, pointing to the state's outsize influence over what cars get built. "Federalism doesn't mean that one state can dictate to the rest of the country," EPA chief Scott Pruitt said at a Senate hearing Tuesday ... The state is showing no sign of flinching ... California has little incentive to make concessions ... The tension will increase next month, when the EPA completes a review of the current rules and starts to lay out its plans for rolling back mileage standards. The agency is under pressure from automakers who object that there isn't a large enough market right now to support a big infusion of smaller, lighter, less-polluting cars and trucks. It's a familiar story in the auto industry: Gas prices are low, the profit margin on sport utility vehicles is high and even as the companies boast of plans to roll out dozens of new electrified vehicles in the next few years, they would prefer to soak up profits from the SUV buying binge for as long as possible ... "GM went into bankruptcy with a promise to stop making so many bigger cars and start making littler cars," said Maryann Keller, an analyst who has been tracking fuel economy issues for three decades. As long as gas is cheap and government incentives for driving low-emission vehicles are limited, however, persuading drivers to buy them is a challenge ... Related searches: https://www.google.com/search?q=Car+companies+have+lobbied+Trump+to+ease+up+on+fuel+economy+standards https://www.google.com/search?q=Car+companies+have+lobbied+Trump+to+ease+up+on+fuel+economy+standards&source=lnt&tbs=qdr:m&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi3qqGp75HZAhVEaq0KHW29CVoQpwUIHw&biw=853&bih=423&dpr=1.5 For EVLN EV-newswire posts use: http://evdl.org/archive/ {brucedp.neocities.org} -- Sent from: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/ _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
