GM Expects California Mandate to Change
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Automakers seek modified ZEV targets
DETROIT - GM believes California will modify or eventually drop its
mandate for the sale of electric vehicles by 1998.
GM vice president Dennis Minano said he expected the state to
heed industry arguments that the current crop of electric vehicles
will not meet consumers'needs. He said: "In my optimistic view, I
think the facts in terms of engineering, marketing and
infrastructure will carry the day and they'll make an adjustment,"
Minano told a conference at the University of Michigan.
Minano, who heads GM's environmental, energy and corporate
communications departments, said an adjustment would mean "either the
elimination of the mandate or some sort of approach that considers the
customer".
California rules require major automakers to begin selling
electric-powered "zero emission vehicles" from 1998.
The electric vehicle sales initially must account for 2% of the
automakers' annual sales, eventually rising to 10%. But auto
manufacturers from Detroit to Tokyo have argued that current battery
technology renders electric cars unrealistic for the general car-
buying public because of high purchase prices and limited driving
range.
Some automakers have estimated purchase prices of over $30,000
for a car that offers a range of less than 100 miles on a single
charge of its lead-acid batteries. Minano said: "You can't mandate a
sale."
US Automakers believe electric cars will not be attracfive to
consumers until a new generation of batteries is perfected and
becomes affordable to produce, most likely after the tum of the
century.
Among those is the GM Ovonic battery, a nickel-metal-hydride
battery being developed by a joint venture headed by ousted GM
chairman Robert Stempel.
Minano said that a successful EV industry needed a "blend of
entrepre-neurial methods and spirit". He added that the California
law disrupted EV development work GM already had in progress. GM has
spent $500 million on EV development in the 1990s and is now
conducting market tests on the two-seat Impact electric car.
Former GM chairman Roger Smith first announced bold mass
production plans for the Impact in 1990, but GM scaled those plans
back drastically in 1992.
Minano said the automaker now believes it should have waited to
talk about the Impact until technology and customer expectations had
been developed further.
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