Automakers Drop California Zero Emissions Lawsuit

General Motors, DaimlerChrysler, and Isuzu announced August 12, 2003, that they had reached a settlement with the California Air Resources Board (ARB) regarding California's 1990 zero emission vehicle legislation. The companies agreed to drop their lawsuit in exchange for modifications made to the rule. The adapted rule gives companies two choices for meeting their ZEV requirements. The first option is to sell a mix of zero emission vehicles, hybrid-electric vehicles, and extremely clean gasoline-powered vehicles, adding up to ten percent of total vehicles sales. Instead of fulfilling the zero-emission portion of that mix, automakers may choose to produce a certain number of fuel cell vehicles, beginning with a sales-weighted market share of 250 fuel cell vehicles in 2008 and rising gradually to reach 50,000 vehicles in 2015.

Go to ARB's Zero Emission Vehicle webpage