Coalition Of Eight Unveils Plan To Encourage ZEV Production
A coalition of eight states have adopted a plan to encourage automakers to help meet the target of 3.3 million ZEVs taking to the road as required by the Clean Air Act by 2025.
Automotive News reports the plan would include incentives and tax credits for those who buy ZEVs, as well as access to HOV lanes and preferred parking. However, the plan also includes measures such as streamlining building codes and liability insurance rules so commercial properties can provide charging infrastructure, and improved signage and payment systems for public charging stations.
The coalition — consisting of California, New York, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont — may have a difficult time reaching its ZEV mandate of 15 percent of all vehicles sold by 2025, though. Currently, only Nissan is among the major automakers committed to building its share of the 3.3 million required by the Clean Air Act. The rest — including Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne, who hoped no actually bought a Fiat 500e because FCA would lose $14,000 on each one sold — see ZEVs as nothing more than compliance vehicles with limited market prospects. California Air Resources Board Chair Mary Nichols begs to differ:
We’re coming to this collaboration as a way of helping companies. They’ve done a great job of producing great cars. We want them to succeed and want them to make money on this.
Seattle-based writer, blogger, and photographer for many a publication. Born in Louisville. Raised in Kansas. Where I lay my head is home.
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I think the learned chair of CARB is mistaken and is a classic illustration of the perils of intrusive regulation. Step 1 is that CARB requires manufacturers, as a condition of selling "normal" cars in California, to offer for sale a certain number of "zero emissions vehicles" which should more appropriately be labeled "displaced emissions vehicles" since, even in California, much of the electricity that powers them is generated by fossil fuels, although out-of-state. Step 2 is that no one buys these vehicles, mostly because of their extremely limited utility. Step 3 is that, faced with manufacturer complaints about this mandate, the regulators try to fix the problem they have created ("we want you to make money selling these things, so you'll stop your complaining") by adding more regulation in the form of various kinds of cash and non-cash subsidies. Of course, the cash comes out of the taxpayers' pocket, and California has the highest marginal income tax rate of any state.
1. Develop a cheap, small EV powered by a plain ordinary cheap lead-acid battery. It doesn't matter how short the range is and it doesn't matter if no one will want it. Only that it has to be (A) as cheap as possible, and (B) satisfy the regulatory requirements that a "car" must meet. 2. Bump up the price of all the manufacturer's luxury and sports vehicles by enough to cover the cost of the crap-box mentioned in step 1. 3. If you purchase one of the luxury or sports vehicles, you must also purchase the EV. You cannot opt out of it. You must take it. 4. Drive away in your sports car, send the EV to the recycling center. Done. Everyone's happy except the end user who has to pay more. The reality might not be quite that extreme, but mark my words, this is more or less where this is headed if the government continues to force the issue.
This should be a good illustration of why fascism isn't of value. These same states will push for increased taxes for transportation because they're squandering their tax revenue trying to create a command economy. Mary Nichols should suffer unprecedented horrors because of what she is doing, not because of her membership in a protected majority. If people want electric cars, let them buy electric cars with their own money. Let them pay for their own electricity and park like members of a democracy while they're at it.
I really wish our esteemed politicians would collectively grow a pair. Do you want to save gas, save the environment, and cause people to seriously consider BEVs, more fuel efficient cars, etc.? RAISE THE GAS TAX! You don't have to do it all at once, you could raise it $.20 a year or some such. But the way to alter demand, is to alter DEMAND, not muck around making companies create vehicles that not very many people actually want.