The California Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate

This mandate had become necessary because of heavy problems with "SMOG" and dependency on petroleum imports, and requried that the major automakers' market share in California include at least 2 % Zero Emission Vehicles in 1998, 5 % in 2001 and 10 % in 2003.

A very detailed study about the California ZEVM has been published by the Institute of Transportation of the University of California in Davis.

Did you know ?

In California, Electric Autos - also called "Zero Emission Vehicles", "Electric Cars", "Electric Vehicles" or "Plug-In Cars" - already had a gigantic breakthrough, more than 10 yeras ago, in the 1990s.

Because they had political support by the California Air Resources Board (CARB), the "clean air agency" in the government of California, formed in 1967 - like the umbrella organization of the Electric Auto Association.

In 1990 the California Air Resources Board adopted a governmental mandate called "The California Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate".

This mandate had become necessary because of heavy problems with "SMOG" and dependency on petroleum imports, and requried that the major automakers' market share in California include at least 2 % Zero Emission Vehicles in 1998, 5 % in 2001 and 10 % in 2003.

Everything looked fine at the start and major automakers like Daimler (Germany), General Motors (USA) or Toyota (Japan) began with the development of Electric Autos seriously, as they didn't want to lose the Californian market.

In the late 1990s the first Electric Autos for the future Californian market appeared on the roads and they were much better than expected.

The most popular exemplars by European automakers were the ZEBRA-A-Class by Daimler, the "Golf IV Electric" and the "Beetle EV" by Volkswagen :

Prominent representatives of the USA were the "EV1" by General Motors, the "Ranger EV" and the "TH!NK City" by Ford.

From Japan came the "EV Plus" by Honda, the futuristic "Hypermini" by Nissan and the most popular "RAV4 EV" by Toyota.

These quiet, reliable and emission-free Electric Autos were suitable for everyday use, thanks to electric airconditioning even in hot and sunny California. The max. speed of the 1997 ZEBRA-A-Class, for example, was about 130 km/h (80 mph) and the range about 200 km (125 miles), the average daily travel of a Californian is not more than 50 km (30 miles) and 130 km/h (80 mph) are the max. speed limit in the USA.

For 200 km (125 miles) of emission-free electric driving, the 1997 ZEBRA-A-Class needed ca. 30 kWh (kilo-Watt-hours) of electric energy, i.e. "fuel" costs of less than 5 US-Dollars, depending on the electricity prices ($/kWh). Much cheaper than drivng with gasoline, diesel, vegetable oil or natural gas.

No surprise : this revolutionary, new kind of Electric Autos soon became very popular also outside California, and other US-states wanted them, too. SMOG and dependency on foreign petroleum were (and are) not only problems of California.

A gigantic breakthrough of Electric Autos was on the way.

And this was the point when the US Congress entered the stage, unfortunately not in order to congratulate the "CARB" for the ""California Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate"", but to start an open and unfair battle against Electric Autos.

Jim Boyd, executive officer of the "CARB" at this time, had to face the following hard threat by a "very prominent congress man", who should not be mentioned by name :

With this clear message, a very sad story began, and after a few years the battle was won, the original version of the "California Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate" was as good as dead.

Not millions of Electric Autos like the ZEBRA-A-Class, the EV1 or the RAV4 EV appeared on the roads allover the USA , but only a few thousands.

It would have been millions, if 10 % of all new passenger cars and light trucks in the USA since 2003 would have been Electric Autos, as required in the original version of the "California Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate".

But reality looked different : the European automakers like Daimler and Volkswagen cut off their activities in California already at the end of the 1990s, the "ZEBRA-A-Class", the "Golf IV Electric" or the "Beetle EV" were never sold or leased.

At least some American and Japanese automakers brought a few thousands Electric Autos in their dealers' salesrooms.

Between 1997 and 2003 only 4400 Electric Autos by American and Japanese automakers were sold or leased in California, about 1200 in other US-states.

After the final destruction of the "California Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate" in 2003, the automakers wanted to take back all of them and send them to the crusher.

After some hard and frustrating fights with the automakers and campaigns like "Don't Crush" (2005), only 1380 of 5599, i.e. ca. 25 %, could be saved.

PLUG IN AMERICA, a "Special Interest Chapter" of the EAA, published the results of these fights in autumn 2006 in a presentation to the "California Air Resources Board", titled "Plug-In Vehicle History and Status".

Sad but true : "ZEVs" by European automakers - "ZEBRA-A-Class", "Golf IV Electric" & "Beetle EV" - are not listed in this eye opening presentation, because major European automakers never sold or leased any "ZEVs" in California or other states of the USA, as already mentioned above.

How the "very prominent congress man" and the major automakers won their unfair battle, was documented in "WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR ?", a movie released by "SONY Pictures" in 2006.

This is the timeline of the battle against the "California ZEV Mandate" 1979 - 2006, published by "SONY Pictures" :

If this unfair battle should ever come to court, these were ...

Today, in 2008, the unfair battle is still not over.

The "Status Quo" was documented by EAA board member Earl Killian in the May 2008 issue of "Current EVents", the EAA-Newsletter :

The situation in the Californian government today is described in the last passage on the front page of this article :

In a bit of drama, former "California Air Resources Board"-Chairman Dr. Robert Sawyer testified in front of the board he once directed, calling for a stronger Zero Emission Vehicle Program. Dr. Sawyer was appointed to the board by Governor Schwarzenegger in 2005, but then fired by the Governor in 2007. Dr. Sawyer's firing led to the resignation of CARB Executive Director Catherine Witherspoon. She accused the Governor's aides of blocking efforts to fight global warming, saying : "I believe the Governor cares deeply about air quality, but no one in his inner circle does."

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This mess in the Californian Government is a shame and the reason why the EAA Europe says ...