> California votes to weaken tough auto emissions goals > The California Air Resources Board voted 8-3 to lower the number of > these vehicles that must be on California roads by 2005 while also > allowing car manufacturers to produce fuel cell cars rather than just > electric ones to meet the requirements. > > "What the board did was modify the existing program," said Richard > Varenchik, a spokesman for the board. "They did that by offering > manufacturers two ways to meet the mandate - either through fuel > cells or battery-operated vehicles." > Only the North American auto industry could see it as progress that they have defeated a requirement to provide 10,000 ZEVs at US$40,000 each (total $400,000,000) that they already know how to build (GM EV1, Ford Ranger EV, Chrysler EPIC, Nissan Altra and Hypermini, Toyota RAV-4 EV and E-com, etc) and could recoup the full cost in the retail price (net cost 0), in exchange for a requirement to provide 250 ZEVs at US$1,000,000 each (total $250,000,000) that they don't know how to build and will never recover the costs in the retail price (net cost $240,000,000). The victory? Five years to weasel out of the new commitment.
Note Ford and GM news items this week that they will not meet fuel economy standards they set for themselves voluntarily last year for 2003, 2004 or 2005. Darryl McMahon ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Get A Free Psychic Reading! Your Online Answer To Life's Important Questions. http://us.click.yahoo.com/O10svD/Me7FAA/AG3JAA/9bTolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuels at Journey to Forever http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuel at WebConX http://webconx.green-trust.org/2000/biofuel/biofuel.htm List messages are archived at the Info-Archive at NNYTech: http://archive.nnytech.net/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
