Don’t Pull the Plug on Electric Car Rule : Air board proposals could destroy state’s longtime mission
The state Air Resources Board would make a lasting, negative contribution to California’s decades-old smog problem if it moves today to undo the state’s electric vehicle mandate. Responding to months of heavy lobbying by auto makers and the oil industry, the board’s staff will unveil proposals that probably will back the state away from the requirement that 2% of cars sold in California in 1998 emit no pollutants. That requirement is part of the state’s plan to comply with federal clean air laws. Electric cars represent the only technology that meets the zero emission mandate.
The fear is that the board, when it votes on these proposals in coming months, will eliminate any mandate involving electric cars, making production of these vehicles voluntary, or that it will push the requirement far into the future. Either decision would set back, if not effectively kill, the state’s mission under this program. Such a change would be irresponsible. Those living in the Los Angeles Basin are still breathing the dirtiest air in the nation.
Taxpayers across the state have helped to fund the development of electric car technology. The years of research and design are now on the verge of paying off. The major auto makers too have invested millions, and they are well along in the development of electric cars, minivans and pickup trucks. General Motors’ sporty Impact model goes from zero to 60 mph in eight seconds and has a range of 100 miles on a single battery charge. Mass production of batteries that would permit a much longer range could occur by 2004, some experts say.
Electric cars have never been expected to single-handedly clean up smog. The state mandate simply dictates that 2% of the new cars sold in California in 1998-- only about 20,000 of the perhaps 1 million vehicles offered for sale that year-- are to be emission-free. That requirement would rise to 5% in 2001 and 10% in 2003.
Although its numbers may seem small, the mandate is far more than just a symbolic requirement. Under the state rule as it now exists, electric cars could cut emissions in the L.A. Basin by as much as 14 tons per day by 2010.
How would the air board make up that difference without electric cars? The available possibilities are few, the politically feasible ones even fewer. Suggestions from business groups, the oil industry and some lawmakers include setting new emission standards for motorcycles and off- road diesel vehicles. Those are fine as far as they go, which is not very far. Further revamping the state’s SmogCheck program to better identify and repair the cars that pollute most could make a big improvement in air quality, but that is politically impractical because of the cost to motorists and the state.
During the long, grinding years of recession here, business leaders have looked to the state to encourage and reward the development of high technology and especially clean technology. Most analysts regard high- tech industries as the key to California’s future growth and to Southern California’s environmental health. Since its adoption in 1990, the state’s electric vehicle mandate has admirably serve those purposes. The air board should keep that in mind before taking any precipitous steps that hurt California’s groundbreaking efforts to gain and maintain clean air.
