Those brave souls at the California Air Resource Board, responsible for dreaming up the policy direction and regulations for California's auto sales, are backing down on their original goal of seeing 75,000 zero-emission vehicles produced between 2012 and 2017. Instead, the board is interested in moving towards as few as 27,500 vehicles. Didn't they see how much fun Benji had driving the lithium-powered supercar? This could result in as much as a $2 billion savings for the auto industry, which has yet to produce a high quantity ZEV.
Environmentalists and electric car geeks are, understandably, a little peeved. They point to numbers by the American Lung Association that show the state could save more than $2 billion in health care costs and stop 300 people from dying early if every vehicle was a ZEV. It'll be interesting to see where the state exec will come down on this, as The Governator supports environmental legislation, historically. [San Diego Union-Tribune]