California Modifies ZEV Goals, Includes PHEVs

The State of California's Air Resources Board has modified its zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) goals through 2014, reducing ZEV production goals by 70 percent. Under the new guidelines, automakers must produce 7,500 ZEVs annually between 2012 and 2014 and 60,000 plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) in the same time frame. The board recommended the inclusion of PHEVs as an intermediate technology alternative while the automakers continue development on viable ZEV programs.

State regulators in California believe that the technology and infrastructure to support zero-emission vehicles are not yet reliably available and would not be available in time to meet the terms of the state's ZEV plan. As a result, regulators had proposed even more significant modifications to the program that would have both reduced the vehicle targets and extended the timeframe for ZEV production through 2017.

Automakers who are subject to the program goals indicated across the board that they would not be able to meet the original ZEV goals established by the program. Citing concerns that the state's 18-year-old ZEV program does not adequately meet California's greenhouse gas reduction mandates and has also grown too complex, the board subsequently responded with a recommendation that a more realistic programmatic revision be in place by the end of 2009.

The regulations don't apply to all automakers. The largest manufacturers – Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Nissan and Toyota – are currently required to comply with the terms of the state's ZEV program. Additional manufacturers could also be added to the list if their sales increase significantly.

Twelve other states had adopted California's ZEV program, and are expected to follow suit with similar reductions in their own ZEV goals. This is not the first time that the program has been revised to reflect the state of vehicle technology. Initiated in 1990, the program originally required that non-polluting vehicles make up 10 percent of the sales of the six largest automakers in the state by 2003. Facing a similar situation, the Air Resources Board revamped its regulations and added hydrogen FCVs, hybrid vehicles and cleaner-burning gasoline-powered vehicles to the list of desirable products.

Photo Credit: Alessandro Paiva