as a new owner of a Prime, I decided to read more about the California Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate program. I am aware that California and nine other states are participating in the program, and there is a complex formula to calculate the credits, etc. However, what I don't understand is this. What are the incentives for automakers to actually comply with this mandate? Is there a financial incentive? And how much of an incentive are there?
The incentive to manufactures in CA "used to be" if they didn't make and sell X amount of said vehicles...they didn't get sell any vehicles there. That's also why some of these vehicles were only sold in those States and those State Governments would give additional tax credits and car pool exemptions to entice/assist purchasers...because said vehicles cost more to make/sell by manufactures than your standard gas sedan. The Chinese Algebra has changed, but that's still the jest of it.
So do the strangely named Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle. The emissions are either zero or they are not. Partial zero makes no sense at all.
I guess my point is that there are emissions generated for every vehicle that moves. Just because the vehicle itself emits nothing harmful does not mean that there isn't a power plant somewhere belching emissions producing the power that the vehicle consumes. The "off vehicle" emissions may indeed be greater than a "reduced" emissions vehicle.
except for those that are off the grid and powering their car with solar (yup, I just saw the error in my assumption, where were the panels made?) and of course the batteries connected to the solar panels
if the vehicle emits no emissions, it is a zero emission vehicle. the fack that the power and manufacturing may have emissions has nothing to do with it. a gas engine emits pollution. gasoline processing emits pollution. oil extraction emits pollution, etc.
Curious that here in California we have two kinds of clean-air decals: white and green. The green is for plug-in hybrids. The white, however, is not just for BEVs; it is also for "alternate fuels" such as compressed methane ("natural gas") vehicles, which emit just as much carbon dioxide as gasoline engines. The white decals have a connotation of being "cleaner", and there are facilities such as the Golden Gate Bridge that allow white decals to get the carpool toll rate, but not green decals. And until last year, there was a cap on green decals, but not on white decals. Politics
There's a webinar detailing how credits are calculated on the Air Resources Board website (I can't post links yet). I don't think they'll ban sales any more. The new model seems to be fines. I think, from the webinar, the penalty is $5000 for each ZEV credit you should have earned based on your calculated production number. Some vehicles produce more credits than others. EVs are based on range and can earn up to 4 credits each. A manufacturer can also purchase credits from other manufacturers. For example, Tesla will have an overabundance of credits as they're all EV. So they can sell excess credits to manufacturers who won't make it (like a cap-n-trade model).
