http://www.eastbayexpress.com/eastbay/whos-killing-the-plug-in-hybrid/Content?oid=1176188 Comments On: Who's Killing the Plug-In Hybrid? by Robert Gammon en-us Copyright 2013 East Bay Express. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, East Bay Express readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact East Bay Express. editor@eastbayexpress.com (East Bay Express Webmaster) Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:01 -0700 Tue, 21 May 2013 01:45:00 -0700 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Posted by pablo49]]> Wed, 23 Dec 2009 02:44:16 -0800 East Bay Express
"CO2 from cars does not contribute to smog and is not harmful to human health but it is one of the leading contributors to global warming."

This claim is wrong. There is new support for the fact that CO2 contributes to air pollution mortality.
Posted by learning]]> Sun, 08 Feb 2009 15:46:46 -0800 East Bay Express great start for Tata Motors to get in
partnership with one of the popular industries nowadays.
Posted by petty]]> Tue, 27 Jan 2009 23:24:56 -0800 East Bay Express Posted by Habodabi]]> Thu, 22 Jan 2009 00:40:45 -0800 East Bay Express Posted by Oybama.com]]> Wed, 21 Jan 2009 16:08:41 -0800 East Bay Express
http://www.arb.ca.gov/lispub/comm/bcsubform.php?listname=phev09&comm_period=A
Posted by pdxgreenrealty]]> Tue, 20 Jan 2009 02:19:17 -0800 East Bay Express Posted by with squirrel]]> Sun, 18 Jan 2009 14:04:35 -0800 East Bay Express Posted by with squirrel]]> Sun, 18 Jan 2009 13:50:23 -0800 East Bay Express Posted by buickhowie]]> Sat, 17 Jan 2009 08:28:37 -0800 East Bay Express
CalCars believes the HEV-to-PHEV conversion industry is still too embryonic to survive the serious regulation required for mature industries, and that the hundreds to thousands of conversions that may be installed by entrepreneurial companies in the next 2-3 years will make a much more significant contribution to the progress of efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions than the possible cost of their worst case contributions to smog.

Also, whatever is decided for HEV-to-PHEV conversions may well apply to future ICE-to-PHEV conversion efforts, which, though even more embryonic, will be needed en mass to meet CA requirements for 2020 and 2030 carbon emissions, because even automaker PHEV ramp-up 25 times as fast as has occurred for hybrids would fill only 7% of CA's automotive fleet with PHEVs, and reduce carbon emissions and oil use by maybe 3%, by 2020.

Instead of CARB's current proposal, we recommend immediate rules for registration of conversion manufacturers, with provisions for industry-government dialog along with probable collaborative research and testing aimed at coming up, as the industry grows and matures, with regulation that best satisfies the state's combined needs for clean air, customer protection, and the most rapid and effective possible reduction of vehicular carbon emissions and oil consumption.

However, if CARB does go ahead, here is an example of a graduated regulation scheme that could continue to allow grass roots innovation by holding compliance costs to around $500 per already-sold conversion -- a high but not insurmountable hurdle:

* A company enters the conversion business by presenting CARB with an engineering proposal showing how it will avoid increased criteria pollutants; it then shows a running prototype. Each completed conversion is subject to an ordinary end-user smog test for that model of unconverted vehicle.
Posted by Ron at CalCars]]> Fri, 16 Jan 2009 21:44:43 -0800 East Bay Express
-- Felix Kramer, Founder, CalCars.org
Posted by felixkramer]]> Fri, 16 Jan 2009 21:10:55 -0800 East Bay Express
It did seem to imply that all plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), or maybe just all conversions, are limited to 34 mph and modest acceleration without the engine, which is not true; converters have even managed to drive Prius conversions electrically to 52 mph despite Toyota's limiting software.

I believe that CARB wrote their proposed rules as if the PHEV conversion industry is a huge, mature industry like auto manufacturing, which has a billion-dollar cost of entry and 5 year development cycles. In contrast, all conversion manufacturers, except Hymotion once it was bought by A123, are entrepreneurial, funded largely by sales of evolving, often one-of-a-kind conversions.

The proposed CARB rules would require all design, testing, and certification efforts to be done up front before selling any conversions.
Posted by Ron at CalCars]]> Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:32:15 -0800 East Bay Express Posted by Charanga]]> Thu, 15 Jan 2009 19:58:32 -0800 East Bay Express Posted by Kurt Schoeneman]]> Wed, 14 Jan 2009 21:28:54 -0800 East Bay Express Posted by GaryTGerber]]> Wed, 14 Jan 2009 20:22:15 -0800 East Bay Express Posted by pachai]]> Wed, 14 Jan 2009 07:10:58 -0800 East Bay Express