Bikes & Cars...

As anyone who watched the 2006 documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car?" knows, the California Air Resources Board really dropped the ball a few years ago regarding zero-emissions vehicles, especially electric cars. They're about to do it again.

On March 27, CARB will vote on a proposal to literally decimate the number of Zero-Emissions Vehicles in the state of California. Currently, California requires 25,000 of the cars on the road to be ZEVs, but the new proposal would lower that number to 2,500. As the Electric Auto Association points out, that would mean the six largest automakers who sell cars in this country only have to build a measly 850 ZEVs a year.

According to the EAA, CARB is making this move because auto manufacturers say they can't produce enough hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles to meet the current number until 2012 or so. This is likely true; they could, however, be churning out electric vehicles to meet that number while we all wait for hydrogen technology to catch up.

Check out CARB's site for the full text of the proposal in seven not-so-easy-to-read PDFs. (They're written in that legalise we all love.) There's also an enlightening comments log, with entries from local businesses, electric vehicle groups, and regular, old, clean-air-lovin' citizens.

You may not think this has much to do with you if you don't live in California, but when it comes to environmental laws, California tends to be a bellweather for the rest of the country. It's a fight at least worth following. If you're amped to do more, the Electric Auto Association has contacts and sample scripts for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and CARB.

Photo by nahasopetalon.