Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Whither CARB?

The California Air Resources Board, one of the culprits identified in Who Killed the Electric Car?, was originally charged with reducing pollution. Now it's actions are meant to help reduce carbon emissions and petroleum usage, as well. The electric cars produced to meet the Zero Emission Vehicle mandate uniquely contribute on all three counts.

Of the transportation fuel options before us, only electricity can provide both near term mitigation of the many problems wrought by petroleum and the internal combustion engine, and a path to a truly zero-carbon, zero-emission, zero-petroleum future.

Gov. Schwarzenegger and CARB have a unique opportunity.
Proclaim the success of the ZEV mandate. Highlight the synergy of California's Solar Initiative and plug-in cars. Showcase the Toyota RAV4 EVs and RangerEVs still providing many more zero emission miles than all the hydrogen fuel cell cars touted by the car makers. Build on the success of nearly 10,000 battery electric vehicles, not the failure of a diminished ZEV fleet, an automaker-inspired failure of less than 100 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, now pleading for an extension on the minimal target they presumed they could attain.
Tens of thousands of battery electric cars could be on the road for the same expense in shorter time and everyone knows the market exists already for plug-in cars. The carmakers never fulfilled the demand they themselves unwillingly and unwittingly inspired in Californians. They are waiting to be forced to do the right thing. Their own ZEV-mandated product proved they could do it. They can do it again.

4 comments:

Paul Scott said...

Well said, Marc. For those who saw the film, "Who Killed the Electric Car?" and felt that they missed out on having their voices hear, you now get a second chance. CARB will be conducting a hearing May 24th in San Diego to take testimony on where they should go with the ZEV mandate. Speak up and let CARB know you want cars that run on cleaner, cheaper domestic electricity.

Anonymous said...

Why is it that no one is demanding some "trust busting" action from the guvment to break up the Chevron/Cobasys stranglehold on Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) batteries? I never see that mentioned. Don't forget, the wonderful RAV4 EVs and the Rangers are powered by NiMH batteries that were manufactured by Panasonic, the same company that was sued by Cobasys(Chevron) and forced to stop production. NiMH is a perfectly good battery for our purposes, both for pure EVs and hybrids, but the EV industry is being denied because of the Chevron/Cobasys thugs. The politicos went after Bill Gates for his "wrong doings" (whether we agree or not on their definition of "wrong") but ignore the NiMH monopoly. Come on guys, let's start talking about the real culprits. Big money buying big laws from prostitutes in state capitals and DC. Best Fascism money can buy!
Demand all you want from CARB and you still won't be able to get NiMH batteries until Chevron decides to release them. Until then, we're stuck with lead/acid and limited range.
Good site Marc. Keep up the good work, but let's zero in on the real culprits.

Anonymous said...

Well Said Bill. I vote for you, to be our next President, of this Country.

Tim Evans said...

Anyone know what kind of batteries Aptera is using?

www.aptera.com