California Air Resources Board

SACRAMENTO - Today the California Air Resources Board released a comprehensive summary of its proposed Advanced Clean Cars regulation package, setting tough new emissions standards for cars and light trucks from 2015 through 2025. 

The package continues California’s leadership role in developing innovative and ground breaking standards for vehicles. It is designed to clean the air, fight climate change, deliver savings to consumers and drive job development in California. Thanks to the rules, vehicles sold in 2025 will cut fuel costs at the pump by at least 40 percent along with a 50 percent reduction in the quantity of greenhouse gas emissions. 

“California once again leads the nation in setting the toughest standards that will deliver the cleanest vehicles,” said ARB Chairman Mary D. Nichols. “This package assures the development of environmentally superior cars that will continue to deliver the performance, utility, and safety vehicle owners have come to expect.”

The Advanced Clean Cars program combines the control of smog- and soot causing pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions into a single coordinated package of requirements for model years 2015 through 2025.  The package also includes a zero-emission vehicle mandate as the focused technology-forcing element, requiring manufacturers to produce increasing numbers of zero-emission vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles in the 2018-2025 model years.

“California’s groundbreaking requirement for steadily increasing numbers of zero-emission vehicles provides the underpinning we need for a rapid shift to cars that reduce our dependence on petroleum and toward cheaper and cleaner alternative domestic fuels like electricity and hydrogen.”

The Advanced Clean Cars package of regulations is designed to deliver:  

• A 47 percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2025, compared to today’s levels;
• A further 75 percent reduction in smog-forming emissions by 2025;
• One in seven new cars sold in 2025 (15.4 percent) be a zero-emission or plug-in hybrid vehicle;
• A total of 1.4 million zero-emission and plug-in hybrid vehicles on the road in California by 2025;
• A reduction of 40 million tons of greenhouse gases in 2025, the equivalent of taking eight million cars off the road; and,
• A savings of $5 Billion in operating costs in 2025 for California drivers. This will rise to $10 Billion in 2030 when more advanced cars are on the road.

The proposed Advanced Clean Car package has been in development over the past three years and is composed of four separate but related regulations:
 

1. Greenhouse gas standard for cars and light trucks, model years 2017-2025
   This regulation builds on California’s first-in-the-nation greenhouse gas standard that was later adopted by the federal government as part of a national program in 2009.  The current proposal to strengthen the greenhouse gas standard was developed in tandem with the federal government over the past three years, toward accommodating manufacturers’ desire for a single national program within California’s separate motor vehicle emission control program. It is designed to parallel the national greenhouse gas and fuel economy standards rule the U.S. EPA and the Department of Transport are releasing today under their coordinated rulemaking.
   
   The proposed new standard drops greenhouse gas emissions to 166 grams per mile, a reduction of 47 percent from current levels. This will be achieved through existing technologies (such as hybrid cars), 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 2016 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 today’s diesel, gasoline-powered, or typical gas-electric hybrid internal combustion engines.
    
3. Zero Emissions Vehicle Regulation
   This 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% by 2050, a goal adopted by many nations and believed necessary to stabilize climate temperature. 
   
   ARB analysis demonstrates that the ZEV regulation is required to put 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 twenty years but by mid-century, 87 percent of cars on the road will need to be full zero-emission vehicles to achieve our climate goals.
    
4. Clean Fuel Outlets
   This regulation is designed to address the pending commercialization of zero-emission hydrogen fuel cell vehicles by requiring the construction of hydrogen fueling stations. Construction of the new stations will provide a convenient fueling infrastructure, first within the major air basins but ultimately throughout the state.

A summary of the Advanced Clean Car regulation will be posted later today at: 
https://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/clean_cars/clean_cars.htm .