In the U.S., California has long been viewed culturally as the crazy, free-spirited cousin. As Californians like to point out, their state of 40 million people is also the world's sixth-largest economy all by itself. Resolutely progressive, it has regulated vehicle emissions for five decades and worked to get zero-emission vehicles onto its roads... What China learned from California about getting electric cars on its roads
In the U.S., California has long been viewed culturally as the crazy, free-spirited cousin. As Californians like to point out, their state of 40 million people is also the world's sixth-largest economy all by itself. Resolutely progressive, it has regulated vehicle emissions for five decades and worked to get zero-emission vehicles onto its roads... 
The Volkswagen diesel emission scandal has now largely vanished from U.S. media coverage, much to VW's relief. Tens of thousands of bought-back TDI diesel vehicles still sit in fields awaiting modification and resale, or some other disposition. But among the thousands of pages of legal documents to settle dozens of civil and criminal charges in... 
The omens have been accumulating for months, as bits of information dribble out of the regulatory rumor mill in Washington, D.C. Now we have the most concrete reports yet that the U.S. EPA plans to modify exhaust emission limits for vehicles in model years 2022 through 2025. The EPA delivered its draft Final Determination document to the Office of... 
As automakers await the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's new fuel-economy rules for 2022 through 2025, due March 30, regulators from California and Washington are still hammering out the specifics. A meeting between state and federal regulators on fuel-economy and emissions targets took place on Monday as both sides attempt to... ![First all-electric articulated bus in the world, Palmdale, CA, by Nate Pitkin [CC BY-SA 4.0]](https://images.hgmsites.net/tmb/first-all-electric-articulated-bus-in-the-world-palmdale-ca-by-nate-pitkin-cc-by-sa-4-0_100638880_t.gif)
California is using the growing sums of money it receives from its emission cap-and-trade auction for good, including to tackle up some of the state's most egregious transportation polluters. In mid-December, California announced it would invest $663 million in a plan to clean up particularly dirty fleets, especially those operating in low-income... 
For 45 years, the Environmental Protection Agency has been charged with protecting the U.S. from pollution in its air, water, and land. Under the Trump Administration, its administrator Scott Pruitt is aggressively muzzling and removing scientists, eradicating climate-science from its activities, and eliminating dozens of regulations. That makes... 
With China mulling an eventual ban on sales of cars with gasoline or diesel engines, the world's largest car market made it clear earlier this month that it intends to force a conversion to zero-emission vehicles. Now California, which has led the U.S. in environmental awareness and emission reduction for decades, is doing the same. Governor Jerry... 
Continuing political turmoil and news coverage of the Trump Administration haven't stopped the president's agency heads from drastically reshaping policies on energy, the environment, and emissions. Comments are now being taken on the reopened EPA limits on vehicular carbon emissions for 2022 through 2025, although reporters had to dig to find out... 
VW Group of North America now owns hundreds of thousands of Volkswagen and Audi TDI diesel vehicles it has bought back from owners under the terms of various diesel emission scandal settlements. Yesterday, it got some very good news: the EPA has approved a modification that will it allow it to resell the oldest and dirtiest of those vehicles... 
As rules to boost fuel economy and lower carbon emissions in vehicles around the world continue to stiffen, acronyms like EREV, CNG, and MPGe are becoming more and more common. Ever wonder what they all mean? This glossary is your chance to enter a veritable Twilight Zone of terminology--and find out, say, whether a PZEV is related to a PHEV... ![Chevrolet Bolt EV being charged outside Go Forth electric-car showroom, Portland [photo: Forth]](http://images.hgmsites.net/tmb/chevrolet-bolt-ev-being-charged-outside-go-forth-electric-car-showroom-portland-photo-forth_100606247_t.gif)
It's clear that incentives to buy specific cars work best when they can be applied directly at the time of sale. That's why purchase rebates are widely preferred by electric-car advocates to tax credits, which may take up to 15 months to be usable, depending on the timing of the purchase and tax filing. While the federal electric-car incentive is... 
The sales growth of electric cars has made strides in recent years, and California's Zero-Emission Vehicle mandate has more than a little to do with that. The program adopted by the state of California more than 20 years ago, and much modified since then, requires that carmakers sell a certain number of zero-emission models in California and 10... 
The challenges of building fueling infrastructure for passenger cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells are well known by now. Toyota, Honda, and Hyundai now lease low volumes of fuel-cell vehicles in selected areas of California where a few dozen hydrogen fueling stations are now up and running. The challenges for fueling may be less daunting for... 
The California Air Resources Board voted Friday to confirm its stricter emissions standards for 2025, setting up a potential clash with the Trump Administration. The CARB vote reaffirms a decision by the EPA in the waning days of the Obama Administration to lock in emissions standards for vehicles in model years 2022 through 2025. Under Trump, the... 
California is very different from the rest of the United States. All by itself, it's the sixth largest economy in the world. One eighth of all Americans live there. It's home to Silicon Valley, as well as much of the global entertainment industry, and it produces a large proportion of the nation's fruit and vegetables. DON'T MISS: A Brief History... 
California leads the nation in policies that promote reductions of carbon emissions from road vehicles. It is unique in having a federal waiver that allows it to set its own, stricter emissions standards, along with a zero-emission vehicle mandate that requires automakers reaching certain sales volumes to sell a certain number of cars without... 
What if gasoline and diesel cars and light trucks were simply eliminated altogether from the new vehicles sold in a state? Residents of one state in the U.S. may, eventually, find out. California already leads the nation in promoting zero-emission vehicles, but the Golden State may soon take that policy a step further. DON'T MISS: Will California... 
For 50 years now, California has been at the very forefront of reducing vehicle emissions. It was doing so before the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was even formed, and its powerful Air Resources Board has been a vital force in getting plug-in electric vehicles onto the state's roads. Despite the national political currents, the state will...