GLOBE-Net, February 2, 2012, As it has done so often, California is leading the way with respect to clean cars. The California Air Resources Board has approved a package of new emissions rules for cars and light trucks through to 2025.

These rules represent some of the world's most ambitious green car standards. The wide-ranging package of regulations are expected to halve greenhouse gas emissions and deliver 1.4 million zero emission vehicles on state roads by 2025.

The new regulations were voted through unanimously by the California Air Resources Board (ARB) and will build on nationwide standards approved last year by the Obama administration that require all new US cars to double average fleet fuel efficiency to 54.5 miles per gallon by 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 ARB Chairman Mary D. Nichols. "The Board's action ... will create thousands of new jobs, transforming California into the advanced car capital of the world," he added.

California is now in pole position in the race to provide next-generation ultra-clean cars to the global car market.   The Advanced Clean Cars program combines the control of smog-causing pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions into a single coordinated package of requirements for model years 2017 through 2025. The new rules will clean up gasoline and diesel-powered cars, and deliver increasing numbers of zero-emission technologies, such as full battery electric cars, newly emerging plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell cars. The package will also ensure adequate fueling infrastructure is available for the increasing numbers of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles planned for deployment in California.

The Advanced Clean Cars program has been in development over the past three years and is composed of four separate, but related components.  An overview of the program is included further below.

The rules are designed to preserve consumer choice while ensuring the development of a full range of environmentally superior cars from compacts to SUVs and pickups. These vehicles will continue to deliver the performance, utility and safety vehicle owners have come to expect with significant savings thanks to reduced operating costs.

Many of the technologies that reduce climate change emissions also significantly reduce the operating costs of passenger vehicles on a month-to-month basis for consumers.

Benefits of Advanced Clean Cars Program:

Consumer Savings:

• California drivers will save $5 billion in operating costs in 2025, and $10 billion by 2030 when more advanced cars are on the road.
• In 2025, average consumers will see nearly $6,000 in fuel cost savings over the life of the car, nearly triple the estimated per vehicle cost. Based on typical financing for a new vehicle, savings accrue the minute the car drives off the lot.

Fight Smog:

• The rules deliver a 75 percent reduction in smog-forming emissions from new vehicles by 2025 (compared to 2014 levels).

Fight Climate Change:

• Greenhouse gas emissions from new cars will be cut 34 percent from 2016 levels.
• By 2025, greenhouse gases will be reduced by 52 million tons, the equivalent of taking 10 million cars off the road for a year.
• The package will result in a cumulative reduction of more than 870 million metric tons of greenhouse gases through 2050.

Deliver Next-Generation Cars:

• Zero-emission or plug-in hybrid vehicles will account for one in seven new cars sold in California in 2025 (15.4 percent).
• More than 1.4 million zero-emission and plug-in hybrid vehicles will be on the road in California by 2025.

Create Jobs:

• Overall savings generated by the proposed rules will result in an additional 21,000 jobs in California in 2025, rising to 37,000 in 2030.

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OVERVIEW: THE ADVANCED CLEAN CAR PROGRAM

The Advanced Clean Cars program has been in development over the past three years and is composed of four separate, but related components:

1. Greenhouse gas standard for cars and light trucks, model years 2017-2025
   
   The greenhouse gas standard approved today builds on California's first-in-the-nation standard that was later adopted in 2010 by the federal government as part of a national program. The new rules strengthen the greenhouse gas standard for 2017 models and beyond. They were developed in tandem with the federal government over the past three years, including an unprecedented joint fact-finding process with shared engineering and technical studies.
   
   The current California program constitutes a separate set of rules with minor variations due to separate legal structures but is designed to parallel the proposed federal joint rulemaking the Obama administration announced last summer. Once the proposed federal standards are adopted, they will be deemed sufficient for compliance in California. This responds to the desire for a streamlined set of rules for new cars and light trucks and creates a single national program for manufacturers that addresses both greenhouse gas and fuel economy standards.
   
   The new standard drops greenhouse gas emissions to 166 grams per mile, a reduction of 34 percent compared to 2016 levels. This will be achieved through existing technologies, the use of stronger and lighter materials, and more efficient drivetrains and engines.
2. Reducing Smog-Forming Emissions
   
   California will need to reduce smog-forming pollution by an additional 75 percent from 2014 levels to help meet more stringent federal air quality standards expected in the next few years. Since California continues to have the nation's worst air quality, and has more than 26 million cars on the road, it is necessary to further reduce smog-forming pollution from cars. This regulation will drive the development of the cleanest cars yet that use diesel, gasoline, or gas-electric hybrid internal combustion engines. (Note: The above two regulations are bundled into a single document under the title "LEV III".)
3.   Zero Emissions Vehicle (ZEV) Regulation
   
   The ZEV regulation will result in over 1.4 million ZEVs on the road by 2025 (15.4 percent of new vehicle sales in that year) in order to be on track to reach the 2050 greenhouse gas reduction goal. A transitional model - the plug-in hybrid car - will play a significant role over the next 20 years, but by mid-century, 87 percent of cars on the road will need to be full zero-emission vehicles to achieve climate goals.
   
   The ZEV regulation builds on the program in place since 1990 and is designed to rapidly increase ZEV production to early commercial volumes, establishing a sustainable and growing market for these advanced technology vehicles. This will place California on a path to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050, a goal adopted by many nations and believed necessary to stabilize climate temperature.
4.  Clean Fuels Outlet
   
   This regulation is designed to support the commercialization of zero-emission hydrogen fuel cell vehicles planned by vehicle manufacturers by 2015, which will require increased numbers of hydrogen fueling stations. Construction of the new stations will provide a convenient fueling infrastructure, first within the major metropolitan areas, but ultimately throughout the state. The number of stations will grow as vehicle manufacturers sell more fuel cell vehicles.

Click here for more information on California's Advanced Clean Cars Rules