SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- California's clean air board voted Thursday to scale back regulations requiring that automakers market thousands of electric vehicles in the state.
But the panel didn't go as far as its staff suggested.
Board member Barbara Patrick, a Kern County Supervisor, worried that going with staff recommendations would mean the board was going ``a little bit too light in our commitment to this mandate.''
The regulation had required that zero-emission vehicles make up at least 4 percent of the new cars and light trucks offered for sale in California by major manufacturers, starting in 2003. Given current technology, that would have meant auto companies would have produced about 22,000 full-service electric vehicles that first year.
The number of ZEVs would have jumped to about 38,600 if the companies decided to market only so-called city electric vehicles or neighborhood electric vehicles, which are smaller and have less range than full-size electric vehicles.
Instead, the board agreed with its staff to drop the requirement to as few as 4,650 vehicles initially, but voted 9-0 to require more ZEVs than the staff suggested, starting in 2007.
The board's increase will mean about 15,000 ZEVs in California showrooms in 2012, said ARB spokesman Jerry Martin. Staff had suggested 7,000 ZEVs. The old mandate would have required 40,000, he said.
Representatives of health and environmental groups said they were pleased the board did not accept the staff recommendations
``It keeps us on the path to zero emissions,'' said Jason Mark, a representative of the Union of Concerned Scientists.
The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers argued that electric vehicles would be too expensive and too limited in range to sell or lease in significant numbers.
``Electric vehicles with broad consumer appeal are an idea whose time has come and gone, much like eight-track tapes, Betamax and New Coke,'' said Josephine Cooper, the association's president and chief executive officer.
She urged the board to delay its decision 60 days, giving automakers and board members more time to discuss an arrangement under which the regulations would be suspended for a period of years.
During that time the companies would agree to implement the staff recommendations under agreements signed with the state, Cooper said.
Suspending the regulation would save auto companies from worries over selling electric vehicles in other states before their popularity is tested in California, she said.
States have the option under federal law of adopting California's clean air requirements or following the usually weaker federal standards.
``We are going to push vehicles out there that may not be sold,'' Cooper said.
But board member Matthew McKinnon rejected the idea of a delay.
``We have cut this to the bone,'' he said. ``What the 60 days might do for me is convince me that we need to add to the (staff's) numbers.''
The board's executive officer, Michael Kenny, said automakers did not live up to earlier agreements with the state under which they leased a few thousand electric vehicles to Californians.
The staff proposals included a long list of incentives designed to ease the impact of the regulations on automakers and increase the variety of vehicles that could help a company meet the state's requirements.
For example, they would have allowed low-polluting hybrid vehicles that have both gasoline and electric motors and can run at least 20 miles between battery charges to count as zero-emission vehicles. The board rejected that proposal at the urging of ZEV supporters.
S. David Freeman, general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, urged the board to reject the staff proposals, saying that automakers hadn't really tried to market electric vehicles.
``Have you seen television ads with good looking people wrapped around electric vehicles?'' he asked reporters. ``Until you do they are not trying to sell them.''
SACRAMENTO, Calif.-- State air quality officials again have scaled back landmark regulations aimed at putting thousands of clean-running electric vehicles on roads in California and several other states.
After a 12-hour hearing Thursday, the Air Resources Board voted to let automakers meet requirements by marketing as few as 4,650 electric cars or light trucks in California in 2003, the first year of the plan.
Before the change, auto manufacturers would have had to initially produce about 22,000 EVs.
``We would rather start small and build than have an overly ambitious program that results in unsold vehicles,'' said Charles Shulock, a vehicle program specialist with the board.
It was the third major rollback approved by the board since it adopted an electric vehicle requirement in 1990.
Originally, electric vehicles were supposed to make up 2 percent of California's new car fleet by 1998. The figure was to increase to 10 percent by 2003.
In 1996, after a campaign by auto and oil companies, the ARB delayed implementation of the program until 2003. In 1998, it voted to require that only 4 percent of the fleet be electric vehicles.
Under the latest version of the plan, the number of electric vehicles would gradually increase to about 15,000 in 2012.
Thursday's vote affects other states that have the option of adopting California's vehicle emission requirements or following the usually weaker federal standards. New York, Massachusetts and Vermont have matched California's electric vehicle requirements.
The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers had urged the board to suspend the regulations for a period of years and test the lower requirements in California only under contracts that the auto companies would sign with the state.
Without the regulations in effect, the companies would not be required to sell electric vehicles in other states.
Automakers have contended that electric vehicles are too expensive and have too short a range between charges to sell or lease in large numbers.
``Electric vehicles with broad consumer appeal are an idea whose time has come and gone, much like eight-track tapes, Betamax and New Coke,'' said Josephine Cooper, the alliance's president and chief executive officer.
Environmental and health groups have said that there is demand for EVs in California and that mass production would lower their cost.
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