California Passes New Auto-Emission Rules

California regulators established new rules on Friday that require dramatic cuts in emissions from most cars and trucks by 2025.

The new "advanced clean cars" regulations, adopted in a unanimous vote by the state Air Resources Board, requires cars and light trucks sold in 2025 to emit 75 percent fewer smog-forming pollutants and reduce carbon dioxide by about a third, reported The Wall Street Journal.

The program envisions that 1.4 million, or one in seven, new cars sold in California in 2025 will run on electricity or hydrogen and produce no emissions, or run on electricity and gasoline to produce much lower emissions than conventional gasoline-fueled cars.

The rules would apply to cars and light trucks for model years 2017 and later.

Auto makers said they are already making electric and hydrogen-fueled vehicles and support the rules. But they worried about whether enough electric and hydrogen fueling stations would be widely available throughout California, which they said is a requirement for widespread consumer adoption of zero- and low-emission vehicles.

"Auto makers have invested massive sums of money to bring these vehicles to market, so we have a huge stake in trying to sell them," said Gloria Bergquist, a spokeswoman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a trade group. "The success depends on the fueling infrastructure being available so consumers will buy them."

The alliance represents General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and other manufacturers, all of whom deferred to the trade group for comment.

Auto makers believe that since the state has mandated that their industry build and sell zero- and low-emission vehicles, it's only fair for the state to require fuel retailers to make electricity and hydrogen widely available so that consumers will buy and drive the cars, Ms. Bergquist said.

But refiners and service station owners don't see it that way.

Oil refiners and fuel importers oppose a rule that requires them to put hydrogen-fueling equipment at service stations, most of which are independently owned by other companies, said Cathy Reheis-Boyd, president of the Western States Petroleum Association.

"We refine gasoline and diesel and we do not believe it's appropriate for refiners and importers to be obligated to put hydrogen infrastructure at retail gas stations that we don't own," Ms. Reheis-Boyd said.

Service station owners also don't want to be required to install hydrogen-fueling equipment, over concerns that they could lose money on the investment.

Instead, both industries have proposed that the government provide subsidies to install hydrogen-fueling equipment, at least in the early years of the clean cars program.

State officials said the clean car rules would be similar to a federal proposal to boost fuel efficiency standards for most cars and trucks. The Obama administration has discussed the proposed rules, but has not formally proposed a set of regulations.

ARB Chair Mary Nichols said California's clean-car rules would be essentially the same as the expected federal rules, with possible slight differences.

"We're not seeing any fundamental differences with the federal government in fundamental philosophies," Ms. Nichols told reporters on Friday. "I don't think the delay will have a negative impact on the auto industry at all."

The rules are the latest version of regulations originally adopted in 1990 to improve air quality in California, which has some of the nation's dirtiest air.

This time, the clean car rules include limits on greenhouse-gas emissions, in line with the state's 2006 plan to combat climate change.

Consumer groups, environmental groups and local government agencies that oversee air quality lauded the new rules.

"ARB's decision is a victory for California residents, where 90 percent of the public still live in areas of unhealthy air," Simon Mui, a scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council, wrote in a blog post. "With all major auto makers already launching or planning to offer in total 30 to 40 plug-in electric vehicle models, these standards will help scale-up and pull forward technologies already available today."

The regulations include a provision under which the ARB would take another look at how the rules were working and whether changes might be needed to reach the goals of the program.

The Air Resources Board has estimated that the rules will add an average of $1,900 to vehicle prices, which the agency said would be offset by savings on fuel purchases that would average about $6,000 over the life of the car.

Auto dealers have countered that the rules could boost the car prices nearly double what the ARB estimates, and hurt growth in the market.