The California Air Resources Board, whose limits on vehicle emissions influence air-quality policies around the world, will decide Thursday whether to make any changes in the state's current zero-emission vehicle mandates.
The University of California, Davis, has made crucial contributions to the board's evaluation of the central issues.
UC Davis' Institute of Transportation Studies has conducted research on vehicle emissions and fuels since its inception 10 years ago. "We have teams of experts ranging from anthropologists to mechanical engineers who are studying emission-control technology, air-quality policy, cost-effectiveness of strategies and demand for clean vehicles," said institute director Dan Sperling.
"UC Davis has been a valuable resource in California's zero-emission vehicle program," said Alan Lloyd, the chairman of the California Air Resources Board. "The university's technical experts have helped California develop a sound scientific and technical basis for developing programs to meet its air-quality goals."
Since 1990, the air board has put the six major auto makers on notice that by 2003 a fixed percentage of the cars they sell in California will have to be emission-free. (The only technology currently available that meets that standard is the battery electric vehicle, or EV. Fuel-cell vehicles also will meet it but are not expected to be available until about 2005 or later.)
The board, which is appointed by the state governor, originally set the required number of zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) at 10 percent of new autos sold; in 1998, the board reduced the number to 4 percent and said that near-zero-emission vehicles, such as gas-electric hybrids, could fill the remaining 6 percent.
Air-quality regulations initially adopted in California are often adopted by the federal government and throughout the world. Emission-control technology developed for the California market soon finds its way to cars sold in the rest of the
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Contact: Daniel Sperling, UC Davis
dsperling@ucdavis.edu
530-752-7434
University of California - Davis
5-Sep-2000