although the referent is not identified, it is likely
Remember though, that the penalties for not complying with CARB’s ukase are:
[ul]
[li]Moby fines (USD 5000 per non-qualifying car sold; see Health and Safety Code section 43211) and the imposition of accelerated ZEV standards[/li][li]Abandoning the California market[/li][li]Having the California Department of Environmental Justice send its storm troopers to Detroit and drag automotive executives back to Sacremento in chains[/li][/ul]
(Just kidding about the last…I’m pretty sure.)
The question becomes not “How do we maximize our return on any given vehicle?” but “How do we maximize our return on all vehicles?” There was a time, I believe, when it would have cheaper for the manufacturers to not comply with the standards and eat the fines, although this is not currently the case.
Last night on KCAL Channel 9, they did a story about Honda’s hydrogen-powered car. It looked like a standard Honda. It ran fast enough for the freeway. It doesn’t pollute. They also showed a prototype solar-powered fueling station (which looked like a 1960’s Disneyland Tomorrowland attraction), which is the big stumbling point, having to set up an all-new infrastructure to keep these cars fueled. (Though I suppose some current gas stations could be modified to dispense the hydrogen.) If you want to see the video, it’s at the KCAL website, but I don’t know for how long. There doesn’t seem to be a written version of the story on the site.
Would having millions of hydrogen-powered cars cause a water shortage? Or a power shortage, since you need electricity to separate water into hydrogen and oxygen?
I seem to recall a few years ago that the target date was 2001, though I’m not sure what percentage was required by that date. I also remember that here in Massachusetts there was a similar law. This was even more stupid, because electric cars would be virtually or even entirely useless in the winter. In ten degree weather, batteries work very badly, thus dropping the limited range to a mere fraction of what the stated value is. I believe that in a rare display of understanding the limitations of legislating economic impossibilities this law is no longer on the books.