Green Cars You Can't Buy

Geoffrey.landis writes "Auto industry blogger Lawrence Ulrich notes that Honda is now making a "Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle" (or PZEV for short) version of the 2008 Accord, an all-new vehicle that is redesigned to meet California emission standards. He notes "So, just how green is a PZEV machine? Well, if you just cut your lawn with a gas mower, congratulations, you just put out more pollution in one hour than these cars do in 2,000 miles of driving." But the irony is that it's actually illegal for automakers to sell these green cars outside of the special states they were designed for! Apparently, anybody selling one of these ultra-green vehicles out of the correctly-designated venue — which means either California, or seven northeast-states with similar pollution laws — "could be subject to civil fines of up to $27,500. Volvo sent its dealers a memo alerting them to this fact, noting that its greenest S40 and V50 models were only for the special states.""

Comments

My state is eliminating emission tests

[gelfling]

North Carolina has decided that already having the 5th worst air in the country isn't nearly patriotic enough so they're doing away with emission tests on the annual inspection soon. Since 75% of all newly registered vehicles are either pickups or SUV's you can bet that they'll all have bigger dirtier engines eventually. I'm getting a ribbon magnet the size of a small child to slap on the side to proclaim that my underwear is an American flag and my blood runs red white and blue.

Okiday

[tom_75]

Let us European tree huggers protect the planet. You just keep on rolling in your five-point-oh's and give us a call in 30 years or so, from below the heavy CO2 winter clouds.

Re:very simple reason for it

[Kohath]

...so if you sell it in another state you are basically taking tax dollars away from California residents...

I thought Californians loved that. That's why they keep voting for it.

SMUG alert

[mediocubano]

Well that's cool, because people in California are so much smarter than the rest of us Americans. At least that's what Cartman said in the "Smug alert" episode. Get all of you hippies in one spot where you can hug each other, leave the rest of us alone to let the market sort things out.

Re:Partially Zero?

[socz]

You know, i believe it does cost more to produce a low emissions vehicle. The reason we're told in california is because of the catalytic converters. those bastards aren't cheap and need to be replaced at least once during the lifetime of the vehicle, or else you can't pass the "smog test."

So i randomly guess that other states don't want the additional expense of "unnecessary" equipment passed on to the consumer. Maybe there was a lawsuit that caused this at some point in history?