California regulators pass new clean car guidelines aimed at transforming vehicle market

California air regulators have unanimously approved a set of guidelines for cleaner cars that could have a transformative effect on the U.S. vehicle market by expanding the range of low and zero-emission cars available to consumers. The state’s goal is to power one in seven cars in California with little or no gas by the year 2025.

“The California Advanced Clean Car rules will clean our air, fight climate change and provide cars that save consumers thousands of dollars at the pump,” said Air Resources Board Chairman Mary D. Nichols. “The Board’s action today will create thousands of new jobs, transforming California into the advanced car capital of the world. California is now in pole position in the race to provide next-generation ultra-clean cars to the global car market.”

The package of regulations approved contains four components that Nichols said were crucial to approve at the same time.

By mid-century, the state reckons that 87 percent of vehicles must be zero emissions to meet current climate protection mandates. Rules that begin taking effect in the 2018 model year could put about 1.4 million advanced power train cars on the road, about half a million of which would be fuel cell or wholly electric powered.

California is extending its greenhouse gas emission limits, reducing what's allowed by 34 percent over the life of the new regulation. Bundled together with this rule are limits on smog-forming pollution that regulators say will drive the development of cleaner fuel-burning engines.

Finally, the state aims to guarantee sufficient infrastructure for fueling hydrogen- and electricity-powered cars by requiring more stations to open as manufacturers sell more cars of that type.

"We weren’t just voting on a ZEV rule, we weren’t just voting on lower emission vehicle standards, we weren’t just voting on greenhouse gases," Nichols said. "We were voting on a full suite of changes as well as a mandate for clean fuel sales that are meant to support each other and work together with the ultimate goal of reducing overall emissions."

Passing rules is a long way from actually selling cars in the amounts California's requiring. But supporters of the state's action, including Don Anair with the Union of Concerned Scientists, say the regulations should work to open the marketplace.

"The critical period is over the next 10 years, getting the cost of this technology down, continuing the investments by automakers and others in this technology, to make sure that consumers do have these choices, that they are viable options, and that we achieve our long term climate and energy goals in California," Anair said.