EVLN(ZEV Mandate Enjoys Wide Voter Support)

[Bruce EVangel Parmenter <brucedp@yahoo.com>]

EVLN(ZEV Mandate Enjoys Wide Voter Support)
[The Internet Electric Vehicle List News. For Public EV informational
 purposes. Contact publication for reprint rights.]
 --- {EVangel}
Highway 1; Financial Desk
ZEV Mandate Enjoys Wide Voter Support
JOHN O'DELL
05/31/2000
Los Angeles Times
Home Edition
G-1
Copyright 2000 / The Times Mirror Company

   Proponents of California's zero-emissions vehicle mandate will unveil
a
new survey this morning showing that almost two-thirds of the state's
voters support the rule.

   The so-called ZEV mandate is the subject of a two-day Air Resources
Board workshop that begins today at the South Coast Air Quality
Management District headquarters in Diamond Bar.

   The mandate, being opposed by most auto makers, would require the
largest manufacturers to provide new electric vehicles or other
zero-emissions vehicles for sale in the state every year beginning with
the 2003 model year.

   This week's workshop is part of the air board's biennial review of the
rule, adopted in 1990 and modified several times since then. The board is
scheduled to hear a staff report in September that would include any
recommendations for further changes.

   The poll results show that "the public supports clean air and sees the
need for government involvement because the car makers won't do it
alone," said Andrew Weisser, a spokesman for the American Lung Assn. of
California, one of the groups in the ZEV Alliance that commissioned the
poll.

   The poll, conducted by Santa Monica-based opinion research firm
Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin & Associates, found that 65% of 600 registered
voters supported the mandate, while 24% opposed the rule and 12% were
undecided. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 4 percentage
points.

   In a similar poll of voters taken by the same firm in 1994, 60%
supported the zero-emissions mandate.

   The auto industry points to a report prepared for the air board that
says the cost of batteries used to power electric vehicles remains too
high to make the vehicles commercially competitive.

   "Electrics are going to cost substantially more than gasoline cars,
and they will have substantially less range, and we don't believe
consumers are willing to pay," said Steven Douglas, Sacramento-based
representative of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers.

   "People say one thing in the abstract, but when they have to put their
money down and are facing years of payments, they think a little
differently."

   Jerry Martin, a spokesman for the air board, said the poll results and
continuing support for the mandate since 1994 show that the $30-million
anti-ZEV campaign by auto makers and gasoline refiners in the mid-'90s
failed.

   "I think the car companies now see that there is a market for ZEVs,"
Martin said. "And the message I have gotten from board members is that
they are very much committed to making the ZEV program work."
 ...
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Copyright Los Angeles Times  All rights reserved. 800-252-9141 
Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053 USA (213) 237-3700
 ===



AS ca zev prog poll
05/30/2000
Associated Press Newswires
Copyright 2000.  The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.

   ADVISORY for Wednesday, May 31

   California ZEV Alliance to Release Poll Showing Broad Public Support
for State's Zero-Emission Vehicle Program
   ATTENTION: State, Environment editors

   LOS ANGELES, May 30 (AScribe News) -- The California ZEV Alliance
will release the results of a new poll showing widespread public support
for California's Zero-Emission Vehicle Program at a news conference on
Wednesday, May 31.

   DATE: Wednesday, May 31, 2000

   TIME: 8:30 a.m.

   LOCATION: Parking Lot by EV Charging Stations

   South Coast Air Quality Management District,

   21865 E. Copley Ave., Diamond Bar, Ca.

   - Display dramatizing the impact of a gasoline vehicle in an enclosed
tent.

   - Large number of electric vehicles charging and on display, and
electric car drivers

   The news conference and tent display coincides with beginning of a
two-day workshop hosted by California Air Resources Board as part of its
biennial review of California Zero-Emission Vehicle Program.

   -30-

   Media Contact: Andrew Weisser, American Lung Association of
California, 818-757-1440

   Jamie Knapp, California ZEV Alliance, 916-501-5573 (mobile),
530-756-3611 (office)

   Wendy James, American Lung Association (on site) 818-424-9390
(mobile), 818-563-9111 (office)

   AScribe - The Public Interest Newswire / 510-645-4600 $$
--

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      __/o|__\~        EVangel: messenger bringing good news
=)---'@ -----@'      'Electric cruis'n the Santa Clara Valley'
132V S-10 Blazer http://members.aol.com/brucedp/  BruceDP@iname.com
Electric Vehicle List Editor      http://crest.org/ev-list-archive/
EAA San Jose EVents Officer       http://eaaev.org/sjeaa/
Renewable Energy News Editor      EV & AE List sysop

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