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THE CALIFORNIA Air Resources Board dashed the first true progress
that was made on electric cars in this country, as chronicled in
the documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car." They are poised to
do it again, this time to the plug-in hybrid vehicle.

They are poised to make a ruling that will cripple the nascent
plug-in hybrid conversion industry by imposing onerous testing and
warranty standards that capital poor entrepreneurs cannot provide.
In the process, they will violate their own mandate to reduce
global warming pollution.

They are validly concerned about air pollution that can increase
when a hybrid's gas engine is started less frequently. However,
conversion companies have since found that simply having their
software turn on the gas engine for a period whenever the car
starts renders these air quality issues nil.

Given that the air quality issues are now gone, and with CARB's
mandate to reduce global warming pollution, CARB has no rational
choice but to work these conversion companies to find an equitable
solution to keep plug-in hybrids on the road.

I'd rather not have to watch another documentary in five years
about how CARB could have done the right thing but didn't.

Daniel Bell

Note: This letter was also published in the January 20th issue of
the Oakland Tribune.