Someone over at MNL posted this interesting article: Will California's Zero-Emissions Mandate Alter the Car Landscape? - Edmunds.com It sure explains a lot of what I see emerging (e.g. CA compliance cars, how Tesla and Nissan can earn some $, hydrogen FCVs, PHEVs, etc.) Tony Williams also posted some interesting tidbits along w/a link to slide deck about the ZEV program at My Nissan Leaf Forum • View topic - Blink / Rav4 Blows Out a Contactor Pin (with gory pics).
Interesting... I stumbled across My Nissan Leaf Forum • View topic - California ZEV (CARB) requirements for reference which is apparently a very old thread.
From article - Toyota is launching the RAV4 EV, the subcompact Scion iQ electric city car and the Prius plug-in to help comply with the ZEV rules and also has fuel-cell plans, Love says. "It is not hard to make these cars, but it is hard to make money selling them. We are just not sure yet what will be most acceptable to the public."
That's from the OP link. I've got to ask whether these CARB economists actually went to a decent school, or are they actually qualified. In 2013, simply the hybrid system on the camry and fusion are reported to the automakers to cost around $3000, and sold to consumers for about $4000 - less of a mark up than most optional equipment. I've got to see how fuel cell and BEV batteries in 2025 will add less than half of that to the cost of a new car in 2025. Perhaps CARB economists are assuming that the state will be raising the subsidies in 2025, but are not talking about it, because then people might fight against the proposal. IMHO the current CARB ZEV regulations that heavily favor fuel cell vehicles will get heavily modified by 2025. Federal subsidies for plug-ins will have run out well before 2025. The average car today is over 10 years old. It is hard to imagine that enough cars will be replaced in California in the next 13 years to get anywhere close to a 47% reduction unless CARB is planning on not counting any emissions for electricity or hydrogen generation, and takes away a lot of keys.
Someone on the BMW ActiveE Facebook group pointed me to this C&D article (which I can't believe I missed/forgot about as I subscribe to the mag) re: the CA ZEV emission program. Zero-Emission Vehicle Regulations Get Tougher for 2012 - Feature - Car and Driver The pic there is pretty funny since it has our former governator, Leaf, money, etc.
http://opr.ca.gov/docs/Governor's_Office_ZEV_Action_Plan_(02-13).pdf Current plan is betting on FCEVs and PEVs which btw, also include plug-in hybrid (gas, electric) vehicles So, it's mostly zero emissions
They already modified those regulations. Does anyone have an easy summary for the new ZEV regulations, and how much of a ZEV car a phev or leaf type bev counts for.
