Later On

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) was one of those implicated in the movie Who Killed the Electric Car? and their contribution to its death was undeniable. Now they seem to be moving to kill a new generation of electric vehicles. From Treehugger:

Plug-In Hybrids to be Regulated Out of Existence in California?
The movie Who Killed the Electric Cars? wasn’t very tender on the California Air Resources Board (CARB). They were instrumental in the ‘murder’ of electric cars such as the GM EV1 and Toyota RAV4 EV in California, and now they might be about to do it again with companies that turn hybrid cars into plug-in hybrids.

Two-Part Death Warrant
Small companies such as 3Prong Power mostly take regular Toyota Prius hybrids and modify them to extend their electric-only speed and range. They do this by added a new battery pack and a way to plug the car in to recharge it (instead of only recharging with energy coming from the gas engine).

These companies operate on a small scale and probably don’t have lots of money in the bank. What CARB wants them to do, if the new regulation is signed into law, is the following:

1) Put their technology through a series of rigorous and expensive smog tests that could cost between $20,000 and $125,000, depending on how many cars the agency decides must be examined.

2) Require the new companies to provide consumers with warranties for the changes they make to hybrids for up to ten years or 150,000 miles.

These tests might be peanuts for big automakers, but they are too costly for these small startups. And the warranty requirement is just plain ridiculous: …

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