Zero emissions vehicle mandate

Regulations imposed on auto makers to address a perceived air pollution crisis once again renewed EV interest in the early 1990s. Perhaps the most aggressive regulations were imposed by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) low emission vehicle (LEV) program mandating that zero emission vehicles... 

Zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate (California and north-eastern states)... 

As a result of atmospheric pollution levels that exceed the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) in many parts of the United States, both the federal government and the State of California have implemented standards for exhaust and evaporative emissions from new vehicles (see Exhaust control, AUTOMOTIVE). The first of these standards went into effect in 1968 and mandated that the vapors from the vehicle crankcase be routed back through the engine and burned. Since then, the standards have continued to grow stricter. Table 7 shows the federal exhaust emission standards and Table 8 shows the more stringent California standards. California has mandated that starting in 1998 a certain percentage of new vehicles sales must be zero emissions vehicles (ZEV). 

Surveys indicate that consumers favor government mandates or taxes to reduce oil dependency even while individual consumer choices result in the opposite (U.S. Department of Energy, 2001). The political system has reflected this by limiting regulatory requirements on the automobile and fuel industries to emission reductions and safety improvements that are largely transparent to the end consumer. California s controversial zero emission vehicle program was criticized, in part, because it required manufacturers to sell ZEVs but did not have a parallel requirement for consumers to buy them. 

For the conventional automotive TWC, continued improvements will be needed in thermal durability of OSC materials, especially given that upcoming regulations, such as those for Partial Zero Emission Vehicles in California, allow for no increase of emissions above the extremely low mandated levels over 150,000 miles of vehicle life. Such requirements can only be met if there is almost no deterioration in emission performance over the useful life of the vehicle. Hence, extremely durable oxygen storage materials - even better than those on vehicles today - will be needed. Similarly, the impact of chemical deactivation, particularly phosphorus poisoning, will need to be minimized. More understanding is needed of... 

At a very early point in time of the discussion, some countries and regions issued corresponding regulations. A prominent example is the Zero-Emission-Vehicle (ZEV) Mandate in California, which demands that volume manufacturers put a certain number of Zero-Emission Vehicles on the road in California. The respective number depends on the sales volume. Non-compliance with the ZEV mandate leads to market expulsion in California [4]. Since the Californian market is very important for all volume manufacturers, a significant number of Zero-Emissicm-Vehicles is running in California. 

Many factors are contributing to the fuel cell push in the automotive market. The availability of fossil fuels is limited, and due to this, an inevitable price increase will occur. In addition, legislation is becoming stricter about controlling environmental emissions in many countries all over the world. One of the new pieces of legislation that will help introduce the fuel cell automobile market in the United States is the Californian zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate, which requires that a certain number of vehicles be sold annually in California. Fuel cell vehicles also have the ability to be more fuel efficient than vehicles powered by other fuels. This power technology allows a new range of power use in small two-wheeled and four-wheeled vehicles, boats, scooters, unmanned vehicles, and other utility vehicles [30-34],... 

The most sweeping attempt yet to break with this history by creating a new mandate for clean vehicles occurred in the state with the nation s worst air quality, California. In 1990, government officials decided there was only one way to beat the smog that was causing increased cancer rates and record amounts of childhood asthma, and literally eating away historic buildings order carmakers to build clean cars. And by clean, California meant cars with zero emissions. 

More recently, there has been a significant shift by the automotive manufacturers from electric vehicles toward hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) due to several factors including relaxation of the CARB mandate from zero to low emissions, customer reaction to initial low range lead-acid electric vehicles, and the lack of geographically widespread EV charging and fast charging stations. 

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