Zero Emissions Vehicle

GM calls on the feds to provide leadership by mandating zero emissions cars.

California is adjusting its zero-emissions vehicle mandate to help smaller automakers. Rather than completely excusing them from the program, the companies may offer plug-in hybrids and still receive ZEV credits for them.

When it comes to pro-electric vehicle mandates, California is headed into summer with a full head of steam. Or at least battery power. The Golden State continues to take steps to ensure the pieces are in place for aggressive adoption of zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) by its residents during the next decade.

We had to check our calendar to make sure it didn't read April 1, but since it's not April Fool's Day, we have to assume that Nissan of Europe really has created a special air freshener scent to give away this Christmas. To create this original fragrance, Nissan looked to Dr. George Dodd, a master perfumer and aroma academy scientist who looks a tiny bit like Santa Claus (we seriously aren't making this stuff up).

Tesla Motors is expected to release quarterly earnings figures within the next few days, and the Silicon Valley automaker is thought to have attained profitability for the first time ever. As it turns out, a good bit of that profit will reportedly come from the State of California.

To quote L.L. Cool J, automakers concerned about stricter alt-fuel mandates keeping "going back to Cali, Cali, Cali." It remains to be seen whether the EPA responds by saying, "I don't think so."

Take all of the registered motor vehicles in Oregon, move them one state south and turn them all into hybrids, plug-in hybrids and hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicles. That's pretty much what the California Governor Jerry Brown has in mind, and the state has taken 32 pages to lay that process out.

California may be the Golden State, but when it comes to the upcoming debuts of a number of battery-electric vehicles, prospective buyers may want to associate the most populous U.S. state with the color red. As in herring.

TheDetroitBureau.com reports that the California Air Resources Board (CARB) is out to change the zero-emissions-vehicle (ZEV) game again, this time revising its desired numbers for vehicle sales and prodding industry to make alternative fuels more available. From 2018 to 2025, CARB wants ZEVs to number 1.4 million sales every year. According to its numbers, by 2025, that would result in a decrease of 52 million metric tons of emissions.

Renault isn't afraid to acknowledge global warming, is in alignment with alliance partner Nissan's CEO Carlos Ghosn's prediction that electric vehicles will make up 10 percent of the world market by 2020 and is spending (with Nissan) €4 billion ($5.25 billion U.S. at today's exchange rate) on a zero-emissions program. These are the core parts of Renault's complete zero-emission strat