SUV
Tax Break ‘Outrageous,’
Says Alliance To Save Energy
Toyota
Tops 100,000 Hybrid Sales
Honda
Markets Another Hybrid Vehicle That Approaches Clean
Car Standard
CLEAN
CAR CAMPAIGN UPDATE
Honda
is now selling a gas-electric hybrid version of its
popular Civic through dealerships across the country.
Read on to learn about this vehicle and how you can
register to win one!
The
Model Year 2003 Hybrid Civic performs well against
our Clean Car Standard (CCC Backgrounder), achieving
49 miles per gallon (combined city and highway driving)
and meeting the ultra-low emitting vehicle tailpipe
standard. That is more than 1-1/2 times the average
fuel economy for compact cars, with tailpipe emissions
that meet the cleanest current national rating.
This
car also performs very well on the road and is outfitted
with "top-of-the-line" features such as
automatic climate control and a higher quality interior.
Hybrids run on conventional fuel and never need to
be plugged in, and the Hybrid Civic can travel over
600 miles on a tank. It costs $19,550 with a manual
transmission, or $20,550 with an automatic transmission.
This
is the first time that a car meeting these environmental
performance criteria has been available as an optional
version of an already popular vehicle line. Honda
plans to sell 2,000 Hybrid Civics per month, and Toyota
will soon increase Prius sales to nearly 1,500 per
month. For more information, see Links and More Information.
CLEAN
CAR PLEDGE - TELL A FRIEND!
So
far, over 100,000 people like you have taken the Clean
Car Pledge. Spread the word and invite your friends
to take the Pledge:
Clean
Car Campaign Site
Action
Network Site
TAKE
THE PATRIOT'S PLEDGE AND REGISTER TO WIN
And,
if you would like another way to express your support
for saving fuel, you can take the Patriot's Pledge:
http://www.saveabarrel.org
The
Patriot's Pledge is a campaign to help Americans reduce
our dependence on oil by taking personal steps to
meet our transportation needs in more fuel-efficient
ways. By taking the pledge, you will save at the pump,
help the environment and make our nation more secure.
Anyone who makes a pledge between now and June 21,
2002, will be automatically entered into a drawing
to win a new Hybrid Civic!
Thank
you for your support.
The
Clean Car Campaign
Source:
http://www.cleancarcampaign.org/civic_hybrid.html
New
Hybrid Civic Sedan
Equipped with a gas engine and electric
motor, the hybrid Honda Civic FCX-V4
gets more than 68 miles per gallon
Electric
Cars May Lose Push
In Northeast
by
Richard Perez-Pena
ALBANY,
Nov. 11 - Two years after New York, Massachusetts
and Vermont announced that they would require the
sale of electric cars, they are considering postponing
that requirement by four years and promoting the use
of other emission-reduction technologies instead.
State
officials say the change could actually produce a
deeper cut in tailpipe pollution in the first few
years, while giving car companies needed flexibility.
Environmental groups question that claim and say the
plan may not be legal. Most important, they say, a
retreat by the Northeast states would damage efforts
to make electric cars commonplace and economically
viable.
The
move would leave California as the only state requiring
sales of electric cars over the next several years,
cutting the market for them roughly in half. California's
plan begins with the 2003 model year, which goes on
sale in just 9 to 10 months. It requires that at least
10 percent of the cars sold by each manufacturer be
much cleaner than current cars, and that 2 percent
be zero-emission vehicles, or ZEV's -in other words,
electric-powered.
Two
years ago, Gov. George E. Pataki's administration,
followed by Massachusetts and Vermont, adopted the
California regulation with considerable fanfare, boasting
that the Northeast would help create a national market
for electric vehicles. The proposed rule now under
consideration would take effect in the 2007 model
year.
"It's
hard to believe that Governor Pataki, arguably one
of the most vocal electric vehicle advocates, would
consider a four- year delay in the program,"
said Peter M. Iwanowicz, director of environmental
health for the American Lung Association of New York
State. "The ZEV program is the key to a long-term
strategy to rein in emissions, and any delay is a
setback, and long-term air quality will suffer."
Top
environmental officials of the three Northeast states
insist that the change is, at this point, just an
idea that they are weighing. But they spent several
months negotiating it with the auto industry, producing
a detailed proposed regulation. Officials in all three
states say they expect it to take effect. New York's
environmental conservation commissioner, Erin Crotty,
said her department would decide next month whether
to adopt the rule. She said postponing the electric
car mandate would simply be a recognition that automakers
are not yet ready to produce them. "While New
York is very committed to zero-emission vehicles,
they do have technology constraints," she said.
Automakers
have protested for years that they would be unable
to make commercially viable electric cars in time
to meet the California mandate. The electric cars
produced now run on batteries, have limited ranges
and must be recharged frequently, making them less
attractive to consumers. Car companies are betting
instead on fuel cells to power electric cars, but
that technology still needs improvement. Fuel cells
use oil, natural gas or other fuels to produce electricity
through chemical reactions, not combustion.
For
the last decade, New York has consistently been the
leader among the handful of Northeast states that
have gone along with each step of the California Air
Resources Board's emissions reduction program. Environmentalists
credit that program, which is stricter than federal
rules, with helping to drive advances in pollution
control.
The
Northeast states' participation has roughly doubled
the share of the national car market operating under
the California rules, to about 20 percent. In some
cases, that has helped set a de facto national standard,
as automakers have decided to build cars for the entire
country that meet California standards.
California
requires that by next year, 10 percent of vehicles
sold must produce far less pollution than cars sold
now. While 2 percent must have no emissions at all,
the other 8 percent can have some, using technologies
like more advanced versions of gas-electric hybrids
now on the market, and seals that prevent fuel vapors
from escaping.
The
proposed Northeast rule would push the plan back by
four years. In the interim, it would allow automakers
to earn credit against the future requirement by producing
alternatives like hybrids. California also awards
credits, but the Northeast plan would give far more.
For example, the sale of one advanced hybrid next
year would relieve the maker from having to produce
12 electric cars in 2007.
The
Northeast plan would also allow car companies to earn
ZEV credits by using existing technology to cut pollution
from light trucks, vans and sport-utility vehicles,
which are not covered by California's plan. Officials
involved in drafting the rule said the Pataki administration
had insisted on that provision, which was ardently
sought by the manufacturers.
For
the first several years under the plan, "We'll
actually end up with far more of the vehicles being
very clean" and lower overall emissions, said
Sonia Hamel, the Massachusetts director of air policy
and planning.
Ms.
Crotty, the New York environmental chief, said, "The
alternate compliance plan is intended to get more,
cleaner cars out there sooner." She said she
did not know if the proposed rule would cut emissions
more in the short run than California's, saying that
was a central question her department was studying.
Environmentalists
are extremely skeptical of such claims, and argue
that they miss the point.
"What
this program is primarily about is jump-starting the
production of vehicles with no tailpipe emissions,
zero, none," said Roland J. Hwang, senior policy
analyst at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
"Until this technology takes off and starts to
take over a big chunk of the marketplace, the reductions
you get are fairly small, but when you get to that
point, the benefits become huge."
Congress
long ago authorized California to adopt pollution
rules that are more stringent than the national standards.
It gave other states a choice between accepting California's
rules as their own, or living with those set by the
federal government. Environmental groups say that
federal law might prohibit states from charting a
third course, and that they are deciding whether to
sue if the Northeast plan is adopted. When asked if
the plan was legal, Ms. Crotty said she was not certain.
Mr.
Pataki's environmental record is a central part of
his crossover appeal, as a Republican governor in
a state that leans heavily Democratic. Democrats have
made clear that as he prepares to run for re-election
next year, they will make an issue of what they call
a pattern of environmental programs that do not live
up to their original intent.
In
1999, the governor announced that he would impose
the toughest pollution controls in the nation on old
power plants. So far, he has put no rule into effect,
and the proposed rule does not go quite as far, or
as quickly, as the plan he outlined two years ago.
In the meantime, a few other states have imposed stricter
standards.
Source
