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To: Joe Master who wrote (2580)	11/6/1998 1:41:00 AM
From: WALT REISCH	Respond to of 8393

California puts brakes on sport utility emissions Reuters Story - November 06, 1998 01:26 By Deena Beasley LOS ANGELES, Nov 5 (Reuters) - California on Thursday became the first state to order popular sport utility vehicles to meet the same emissions standards as passenger cars -- in a move opposed by automakers. The California Air Resources Board voted to extend passenger car emissions standards to minivans, pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles, or SUVs, which are currently regulated under less stringent truck emissions standards. The agency estimated the tighter standards, which will apply to new cars sold starting in 2004, would cut smog-forming pollutants by up to 75 percent. The ubiquitous SUVs now account for almost half of all new car sales in California. "These vehicles were traditionally used for work purposes, but it is now very common for trucks and SUVs to be used primarily for personal transportation," the staff of the air board said in their proposal backing the change. From unleaded gasoline to catalytic converters, California's air quality regulations have set the baseline since the 1950s for auto industry pollution standards. Detroit automakers had called for less stringent regulations, which they said would have preserved the ability of full-size vehicles to carry heavy loads while still meeting 90 percent of the pollution cuts detailed in the plan recommended by the air board's staff. But the 11 air board members agreed only to conduct a review of the industry's progress in two years in order to make sure that requirements for the heaviest vehicles can be met. A coalition of U.S. car manufacturers, construction contractors, landscapers and others, known as Californians for Realistic Vehicle Standards, argued that the technology to meet the proposed standards does not yet exist. The group said a big chunk of large-size vehicles sold in California would probably have to run on alternative fuels, like natural gas, in order for manufacturers to meet the tighter standards. But some engine makers, like AlliedSignal Inc.'s automotive division, view the new standards as a marketing opportunity. The company said last week at a presentation in Los Angeles it expected to begin commercial production of an electric-assisted turbocharged engine with ultra low emissions by the year 2000. Tony Prophet, chief executive officer of AlliedSignal Power Systems, Inc., said the company expected to use the new technology in a range of products, including cars with hybrid gasoline-electric motors. In hybrid cars, an onboard battery is charged by the gasoline engine as well as by the action of braking the car. In its precedent-setting vote, the California air board also endorsed a plan to allow automakers to count sales of cars using very low-emission technology, like hybrids and fuel cells, for partial credit against upcoming quotas for zero-emission vehicles. As of model year 2003, 10 percent of passenger cars marketed in California by the seven largest automakers must have zero emissions. Currently, only engines powered purely by electric batteries are able to match that standard. But early consumer reaction to electric vehicles, like General Motors' EV1, has been unenthusiastic, due mostly to high costs, limited driving range and lack of a refueling infrastructure. "Automakers will have incentives to produce hi-tech cars with clean engines," a spokesman for the air board said on Thursday.