Free Republic

Recent reports reveal that the celebrated “all-electric” or “zero emissions” fire trucks, being lauded from San Diego to Portland to Albuquerque, are not as environmentally friendly as advertised. Each of these new fire trucks, purchased with the assistance of federal funding, is equipped with a diesel engine to ensure functionality when the electric battery is depleted. This revelation highlights a significant discrepancy between the marketed image of these trucks and their actual operational design. The report indicates that each of these supposedly zero-emission trucks includes a diesel engine to guarantee that it can still pump water or drive if the...

California and some of the nation’s biggest truck manufacturers have reached an agreement aimed at smoothening the industry’s transition to 100 percent zero-emission sales by 2036. The plan announced Thursday incorporates measures that help the trucking industry meet California’s emissions requirements while enabling the state to simultaneously reach its climate goals, according to those involved. In striking this compromise, the state averts a potential legal battle with major truck manufacturers, who have long been challenging California’s unmatched emissions requirements as technologically and economically unfeasible.

State ecology and environmental panels in Oregon and Washington have approved plans to transition vehicles in their states to meet zero emission standards by 2035. The Oregon Environmental Quality Commission voted on Friday to require all new cars, trucks and SUVs sold in the state to be zero emissions, while the Washington Department of Ecology updated its Clean Vehicles Program to require all new, light-duty vehicles sold in the state to meet zero emissions by that year. Both states are following California’s lead in moving toward zero-emission vehicles, adopting identical policies. The Clean Air Act allowed California to establish emissions...

As California, New York, and other states move to phase out the sale of gasoline-powered cars, public officials routinely echo the Biden administration’s claim that electric vehicles are a “zero emissions” solution that can significantly mitigate the effects of climate change. Car and energy experts, however, say there is no such thing as a zero-emissions vehicle: For now and the foreseeable future, the energy required to manufacture and power electric cars will leave a sizable carbon footprint. In some cases hybrids can be cleaner alternatives in states that depend on coal to generate electricity, and some suggest that it may...

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul Signs Law Requiring Zero-Emission Vehicles By 2035 Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation Wednesday requiring all new passenger cars and trucks sold in the state to be zero-emissions by 2035. Under the new law, new off-road vehicles and equipment sold in New York are also targeted to be zero-emissions by 2035, and new medium-duty and heavy-duty vehicles by 2045. The law further requires the state’s Energy Research and Development Authority to create a zero-emissions vehicle development strategy by 2023.

Vehicles that run on batteries or hydrogen could take even longer to show up in America's showrooms under changes being considered by the state Air Resources Board. California air regulators on Thursday are scheduled to vote on a proposal that would reduce the number of zero-emission vehicles automakers must produce in California and 10 other states by 2014. The proposed reduction has drawn criticism from environmental and health advocates, California's top air regulator, former Secretary of State George Shultz and even a former director of the CIA. They question whether the state can afford to relax the rules on automakers...

<p>The rotary dial telephone. The black-and-white TV. The eight-track tape player.</p> <p>California is on the verge of adding a new item to the list of yesterday's technologies: the electric car.</p> <p>In a historic shift, state officials spent Monday putting the finishing touches on a new plan to end a longstanding requirement that forces automobile companies to build and sell specific numbers of electric cars in California.</p>