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So, one way around this obstacle is by regulation, something carmakers loathe and fight against, but which can help stimulate public demand. He says he is encouraged by the fact that for the first time, California's Air Resources Board, has included plug-in hybrids in its revised ZEV mandate. He thinks that will encourage automakes to begin to look at this option, but he added that he also thinks that the Japanese will have a plug-in hybrid available long before Detroit.

Now, that would make for a very interesting development.
http://apnews.excite.com/article/20030322/D7PUBAS81.html

Diaz Taking Hybrid Car to the Oscars

CAPTION: Actress Cameron Diaz is shown in this December 9, 2002 file photo in New York. Star gazers won't...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Star gazers won't see Cameron Diaz stepping out of a stretch limo at Sunday night's Oscars ceremony.

She's one of a handful of celebrities who will be chauffeured to the gala in hybrid cars powered by both gasoline and electricity.

Also arriving in a Toyota Prius, courtesy of environmentalists, will be Harrison Ford, Susan Sarandon and Robin Williams.

"This is to show that there are people who care about lessening our dependence on foreign oil and increased fuel efficiency," said Matt Petersen of Global Green USA, www.globalgreen.org an affiliate of Green Cross International.

Alternative fuel vehicles "are part of the solution to global warming, pollution and lowering our gas bills," Petersen said.

Because of the war in Iraq, organizers canceled the splashy red-carpet arrivals at the Kodak Theatre.

USA: March 10, 2003

REUTERS NEWS SERVICE

NEW YORK - Hybrid cars, which combine electric motors with small petroleum engines, will outpace the environmental benefits of hydrogen fuel cell cars until at least 2020, according to a university study.

Hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles have low emissions and energy use on the road, but converting a hydrocarbon fuel such as natural gas or gasoline into hydrogen to fuel such vehicles uses substantial energy and emits greenhouse gases, the study said.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology study was published after the Bush administration announced in January an initiative to develop hydrogen fuel cells. Combined with last year's government-industry "Freedom Car" program to build vehicles fueled by hydrogen, the initiative will be powered by $1.2 billion in government funds.

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said in January it should be cost-effective to produce hydrogen-fuel cars in large numbers and have them in showrooms by 2020.

The cars could reduce U.S. demand for foreign oil by 11 million barrels per day by 2040, according to the Energy Department.

But even with aggressive research, a hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle would not be better than a diesel hybrid in terms of total energy use and greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, the study said.

That's because virtually all industrial hydrogen supply at the moment comes from natural gas. In the future, analysts say, large amounts of hydrogen will be separated from water, where it bonds with oxygen, through the use of alternative energies like wind and solar power.

But for now, the green method of making hydrogen is too expensive, according to the study. "If we learn how to do it, I think that's absolutely wonderful, but I wouldn't hold my breath," said Malcolm Weiss, a researcher with MIT's Laboratory for Energy and Environment.

"Ignoring the emissions and energy use involved in making and delivering the fuel and manufacturing the vehicle gives a misleading impression," he said.

Beyond 2020, hydrogen cars will win out, predicted the researchers, who do not recommend stopping work on the hydrogen fuel cell. "If auto systems with significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions are required in, say, 30 to 50 years, hydrogen is the only major fuel option identified to date," said John Heywood, an MIT researcher.

That hydrogen would have to be produced without making greenhouse gas emissions, through a non-carbon source such as solar energy, or from conventional fuels while sequestering the carbon emissions underground.

So far, Japan's Honda Motor Co. Ltd. and Toyota Motor Corp. are the leading makers of hybrid automobiles. Hybrids have fossil fuel engines that work alternatively or in concert with electric motors to reduce smog emissions and increase fuel economy, without ever having to be plugged in.

SACRAMENTO, California (AP) --The celebrated ride of the car that spawned the nation's toughest emissions regulation ends at a parking lot in Southern California, where a growing fleet of General Motors electric cars awaits an uncertain fate.

Dozens of the green, metallic blue and bright red futuristic autos are lined up behind a chain-link fence at the edge of a freight rail line in Van Nuys, a sure sign the world's largest automaker has pulled the plug on a vehicle it heralded as recently as two years ago as "the car of the future."

As California retreats from its strict pollution regulation, GM is taking the cars off the road when leases expire because it can no longer supply parts to repair them, said GM spokesman Dave Barthmuss.

The automaker is shipping the cars to museums and universities for preservation, sending them to a research lab in New York, "cannibalizing" them for parts for the few still on the road, or scrapping them.

It's a long way from a program once touted as the company's clean air centerpiece, and it comes as fans in California fight to keep some electric cars on the road as the state rewrites its so-called zero emissions vehicle rule.

To the scores of drivers who embraced the technology, GM's effort to get the cars off the road is a heartbreaking prelude to the imminent death of the battery-powered vehicle as state air regulators continue to weaken rules that would have required 10 percent of cars for sale this year be nonpolluting.

"They've gone from being regulators to just asking politely, 'Gee, industry, would you do this?'" said Greg Hanssen, of the Production Electric Vehicle Drivers Coalition, which has lobbied for more battery-powered cars. "To us driving battery electric vehicles, we're saying, 'Hey, you've left us hanging out to dry.'"

New plans

It was only after seeing the promise of the first GM electric car in the late 1980s that California launched its ambitious zero emission vehicle program in 1990 to help clean up America's smoggiest skies. New York and Massachusetts followed suit and other states are mulling similar regulations and watching to see how California's rule-making plays out.

Over the past decade, state regulators have caved to pressure as car makers vigorously fought at hearings and in court to halt the regulation. Major automakers have stopped production because the vehicles were limited to a range of about 100 miles, required lengthy recharges and their high cost made them unappealing to a wide group of drivers.

The California Air Resources Board is poised to make changes that reflect that the cars are a commercial failure and to promote more promising technologies that have emerged. The board's staff has suggested a new plan letting auto companies reach the 10 percent quota with a combination of low-polluting gas-powered vehicles, gas-electric hybrids and a couple hundred fuel cell cars down the road.

Automakers would also be able to apply credits for electric cars it once put on the road and electric golf-cart style vehicles that zip through neighborhoods, office parks and campuses.

Honda concluded that the limited popularity of the electric car wouldn't effectively contribute to cleaner air, said vice president Ben Knight.

"I think it is a small group that is very interested in that particular technology," Knight said. "Some of our customers would tell us that they did, it took a while, but they did understand why their friends and neighbors weren't leaning toward leasing a battery electric vehicle."

Honda is now focused on its hybrid models, natural gas-powered vehicles and fuel cell program. It plans to have five fuel cell models, which run on the electricity from a chemical reaction between oxygen and hydrogen, in the Los Angeles city fleet by June. The fuel cell cars have already doubled the range of electric cars.

Supporters of battery-powered vehicles say the auto companies never seriously gave the cars a chance and didn't do enough to improve the technology or promote the cars to the public -- claims automakers dispute.

Staying on the road?

S. David Freeman, chairman of the California Consumer Power and Financing Authority, said there were long waiting lists of people who wanted the cars when he ran the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Freeman has followed the technology since he was head of the Tennessee Valley Authority in the late 1970s and said automakers predicted the demise of the vehicle before it ever hit the road.

"They've been singing that tune while they built the dang things," Freeman said. "Back in 1990 when the Air Resources Board laid down the zero emission rule there were no electric cars, it was a dream. Now that the dream is a reality, they're prepared to abandon it."

Unlike GM, Honda extended leases for some drivers, and about 100 of its original 300 or more EV Plus cars are still on the road.

Of the more than 1,000 two-seater sporty EV1 cars built by GM, only about 375 are on the road. The plan is to have them off the road by the end of next year.

Hanssen's lease expired last month and he surrendered his EV1 to GM as the Air Resources Board was set to vote on restructured regulations that promote the development of the hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicle.

There's a chance when the board meets later this month that the regulations will be rewritten to encourage electric vehicle production, and EV1 drivers are hoping GM -- which spent over $1 billion on its electric car program -- will be persuaded to extend leases or lease cars that were previously returned.

But drivers who embraced the technology are not counting on a new lease on the life of their aging electric car.

Hanssen refinanced his house and, like other drivers about to lose their EV1, bought an electric Toyota RAV4, which was sold instead of leased.

"There's a chance (the board) will come out with some juicy incentive to keep these cars on the road," Hanssen said. "It wouldn't be all too surprising if they just scrapped the vehicles."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/03/28/state1538EST0082.DTL

California delays rewriting nation's toughest emissions rule

BRIAN MELLEY, Associated Press Writer

Friday, March 28, 2003

©2003 Associated Press

(03-28) 17:37 PST SACRAMENTO (AP) --

California air regulators stopped short Friday of scrapping emissions rules aimed at forcing automakers to mass produce a pollution-free car this decade, but the chief air quality official conceded the end of that goal is near.

The Air Resources Board could not reach a decision on how to revamp the strict quota it set 13 years ago for clean cars after witnessing the promise of the battery-powered electric car.

Chairman Alan Lloyd said the board will most likely vote next month to remove its ambitious mandate in favor of small numbers of fuel cell vehicles in the next five years and thousands of low-polluting gas cars and gas-electric hybrids that emerged since the state passed its zero emission vehicle rule in 1990.

"While we didn't get the holy grail of battery-electric vehicles we wanted, we've got many more of these near-zero emission vehicles," Lloyd said after the meeting. "We'll continue that push toward zero."

The board staff proposed changing its first-in-the-nation regulation to reflect the commercial failure of the battery-powered car and more promising technologies that have emerged. While California still is home to the nation's worst smog, the air has improved significantly since the board passed the rule, largely a result in improved emission controls. For example, more than 100 air advisories were issued in the Los Angeles air basin in the early 1990s compared with fewer than 18 over the past three years.

Over the years, the board has consistently eroded the zero emission rule in the face of industry opposition. The board was prompted to rewrite the regulation after a federal judge in Fresno sided with car makers and put the quota on hold.

As proposed, the rule would almost surely guarantee the death of the electric vehicle, the quiet, clean car that led the state to pass the revolutionary rule that would have required 10 percent of cars sold in the state this year to be pollution-free. Massachusetts and New York have passed similar regulations.

Despite scores of enthusiastic drivers, the auto industry declared the experiment a flop because the battery-powered car was expensive and didn't go far between lengthy charges. Supporters of the vehicles, however, suggested automakers never made earnest efforts to improve the technology or market the cars.

"Everyone loves them," said one driver, Doug Korthof. "When I drive in the city of Los Angeles, the gang members came over to me. Were they going to shoot me? No. They said, 'Where can I get that?"'

The short answer is nowhere. The vehicles are no longer sold and some companies are refusing to extend leases, leading some critics to suggest a similar scenario if the fuel cell, which runs on electricity from a chemical reaction between oxygen and hydrogen, fails to meet its promise.

Automakers, who are leery of any regulation, were neutral on the proposal -- happy to be done with the battery-powered car but opposed to any further quotas. They want technological changes to be driven by market demand and competition.

Most speakers at the two-day hearing, however, opposed the proposed revisions and only a few spoke in favor of it.

Among the chief concerns was the fact the proposal would only force automakers to build 250 fuel cell vehicles in the next five years and not force them to make any zero emission cars after 2009.

"We just have to have commitments for zero after 2008," said V. John White, a lobbyist for the Sierra Club. "Be sure there are numbers there or this mandate dies today."

The board was undecided on what those numbers should be and whether automakers could substitute other low-polluting vehicles in their place. Lloyd said the board would set quotas for later years and would also explore at its April 24 meeting whether it could encourage the use of battery-powered cars.

As Jerry Pohorsky loaded his electric car following the meeting, he said he was disappointed the vote was delayed, but encouraged the board might offer incentives for carmakers to continue battery car programs.

Then he headed for Santa Clara County -- a 120-mile drive that will force him to stop for an hour or two to recharge along the way.

27 March 2003

Even with aggressive research, the hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle will not be better than the diesel hybrid (a vehicle powered by a conventional engine supplemented by an electric motor) in terms of total energy use and greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, says a study recently released by the Laboratory for Energy and the Environment (LFEE) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

And while hybrid vehicles are already appearing on the roads, adoption of the hydrogen-based vehicle will require major infrastructure changes to make compressed hydrogen available. If we need to curb greenhouse gases within the next 20 years, improving mainstream gasoline and diesel engines and transmissions and expanding the use of hybrids is the way to go, say the study authors.

These results come from a systematic and comprehensive assessment of a variety of engine and fuel technologies as they are likely to be in 2020 with intense research but no real "breakthroughs." The assessment was led by Malcolm A. Weiss, LFEE senior research staff member, and John B. Heywood, the Sun Jae Professor of Mechanical Engineering and director of MIT's Laboratory for 21st-Century Energy.

Release of the study came not long after U.S. president Bush's administration announced a billion-dollar initiative to develop commercially viable hydrogen fuel cells and a year after establishment of the government-industry program to develop the hydrogen fuel-cell-powered "FreedomCar."

The new assessment is an extension of a study done in 2000, which likewise concluded that the much-touted hydrogen fuel cell was not a clear winner. This time, the MIT researchers used optimistic fuel-cell performance assumptions cited by some fuel-cell advocates, and the conclusion remained the same.

The hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle has low emissions and energy use on the road, but converting a hydrocarbon fuel such as natural gas or gasoline into hydrogen to fuel this vehicle uses substantial energy and emits greenhouse gases.

"Ignoring the emissions and energy use involved in making and delivering the fuel and manufacturing the vehicle gives a misleading impression," said Weiss.

However, the researchers do not recommend stopping work on the hydrogen fuel cell. "If auto systems with significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions are required in, say, 30 to 50 years, hydrogen is the only major fuel option identified to date," said Heywood. The hydrogen must, of course, be produced without making greenhouse gas emissions, hence from a non-carbon source such as solar energy or from conventional fuels while sequestering the carbon emissions.

The assessment highlights the advantages of the hybrid, a highly efficient approach that combines an engine (or a fuel cell) with a battery and an electric motor. Continuing to work on today's gasoline engine and its fuel will bring major improvements by 2020, cutting energy use and emissions by a third compared with today's vehicles. But aggressive research on a hybrid with a diesel engine could yield a 2020 vehicle that is twice as efficient and half as polluting as that "evolved" technology, and future gasoline engine hybrids will not be far behind, the report says.

Other researchers on the study were Andreas Schafer, principal research engineer in the Center for Technology, Policy and Industrial Development, and Vinod K. Natarajan. The new report and the original "On the Road in 2020" study from 2000 are available at http://lfee.mit.edu/publications under "Reports." This article was prepared by Science Letter editors from staff and other reports.

Source: San Jose Mercury News

[Mar 27, 2003]
SACRAMENTO -California's trailblazing effort to put commuters behind the wheels of battery-powered cars was nearly out of juice Thursday.

The Air Resources Board considered whether to abandon the electric car in support of more promising low-pollution gas-powered autos and the fuel cell vehicle, a move that would lend a strong regulatory support to the unproven technology that's being touted as the car of the future.

But the decision, expected to be made Friday, was not without a fervent fight from environmentalists, electric car drivers and observers who supported the state's 1990 landmark regulation that has driven technological changes in the auto world.

David Freeman, chairman of the California Power Authority, who said he had followed the progress of alternative-fuel cars for 25 years, said the air board staff had been swayed by automakers to ditch the quest for the pollution-free vehicle. He said it was time to "catch the falling flag."

"We are now worshipping at the altar of the craven image of the fuel cell," Freeman said. "Y'all are smarter and better than you think you are. You've just had too much time with the auto industry."

Nearly two-thirds of the 79 speakers signed up to testify about the rule were expected to oppose the rewritten regulation, while only five were in favor. Automakers, who are opposed to any regulation and want innovation to be driven by consumer demand and competition, were among about a third of those who remained neutral on the proposal.

Ben Knight, of Honda, said that technology not envisioned when the rule was passed in 1990 had produced startling results with emissions controls that are approaching 100 percent in gas-powered cars.

"This is the most effective path in improving air quality," Knight said.

While the state has continuously weakened the regulation that would have required automakers to sell 10 percent, or about 100,000, pollution-free cars in the state this year, the proposed rule would abandon that goal for 250 fuel cells vehicles by 2008. It would replace that quota with higher numbers of low emission gasoline-powered cars and increasingly popular hybrids that run on a combination of gas and electricity.

One of the chief concerns is that the proposed new requirements do not require any nonpolluting vehicles to be produced after 2009, leaving that number to be set later. In the past, the board set quotas and then whittled them down as the industry fought back.

"I am very interested in the numbers in the end game here," said board member Matthew McKinnon. "I think we're asking for worse than the trouble we've had here along the way."

Automakers resisted building a quota of battery-powered cars that were expensive and generally didn't travel more than 100 miles without a three- to six-hour charge. But critics claim the auto industry never made a serious attempt to make the cars attractive to buyers or to improve the technology.

Last year, a federal judge in Fresno put the quota on hold, prompting the board to rewrite the rule.

Air board staffers said the revisions were aimed at reflecting the limits of battery-powered cars and the promise of the fuel cell car, being hailed by car makers and the White House. Fuel cells produce electric power from a chemical reaction between oxygen and hydrogen that only emits clean water from tailpipes.

"We are not backing down," Board Chairman Alan Lloyd said about the quest for requiring the so-called zero emission vehicles. "It is important to get to zero as fast as possible."

Still, a group of die-hard electric car supporters were not convinced that the rewritten rule would achieve that goal.

A caravan of electric cars left Vacaville in the morning and ringed the parking spaces around the state's Environmental Protection Agency building all day.

They applauded when any of the board members spoke in favor of the technology that powers their silent, purring engines.