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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
Four major automakers that recently reached an agreement with the state of California to hold to certain emissions standards over the next decade are now the target of a federal antitrust investigation.
Ford, Honda, BMW, and Volkswagen confirmed to media they have been contacted about the probe, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
"Honda will work cooperatively with the Department of Justice with regard to the recent emissions agreement reached between the State of California and various automotive manufacturers, including Honda," the company said. BMW and Ford also confirmed receiving a letter from the DOJ, and Volkswagen said it is in "regular contact" with US authorities.
The companies reached an agreement with the California Air Resource Board (CARB) in July to produce cars for the US market that exceed national level-fuel efficiency standards. Under the terms of the deal, the automakers will improve their overall fleets' average fuel efficiency by 3.7% per year, starting with the 2022 model year. The plan also includes certain incentives to promote a transition to widespread manufacture and adoption of electric vehicles.
In a separate action from the DOJ probe, the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Transportation also sent a letter (PDF) to "put California on notice."
"This framework agreement appears to be inconsistent with Federal law," the agencies said. "We urge you to act immediately to disassociate CARB from the commitments made by the four automakers. Those commitments may result in legal consequences given the limits placed in Federal law on California's authority."
State leadership, however, does not appear likely to give way in response to the threat. "The Trump Administration has been attempting and failing to bully car companies for months now," California Governor Gavin Newsom said in an emailed statement. "We remain undeterred. California stands up to bullies and will keep fighting for stronger clean car protections that protect the health and safety of our children and families."
CARB chairwoman Mary D. Nichols in an emailed statement said the DOJ "brings its weight to bear against auto companies in an attempt to frighten them out of voluntarily making cleaner, more efficient cars and trucks than EPA wants. Consumers might ask, who is [EPA Administrator] Andy Wheeler protecting?"
(Score: 3, Informative) by hemocyanin on Sunday September 08 2019, @03:06PM (3 children)
You are comparing heavy equipment which gets beat up way more than a car does and thus has increased maintenance costs. Then there's the hydraulics -- way more complicated than a car has. And even then you're only $6/hr over AC's maximum $10/hr cost for a 24 hr rental.
I do agree though, that "BYOB[attery]" doesn't make any sense to me. I also agree that on-demand car rental is probably a limited market -- best for people who live in very dense urban areas where just having a place to put a car is a big issue. For the rest of us -- not so great.
You should be more open to electrics though. I've had a Leaf now for about three years, maybe more -- anyway I bought it used. The ONLY maintenance I've done on it is to buy a set of snow tires and refill the window washer fluid resevoir. And as I've mentioned in posts before, it's awesome. Not in an "awesome for an econobox" way -- flat out awesome: no vibrations, quiet, 80c/gal equivalent compared to a 25mpg vehicle, zippy as all get out, and a fairly massive cargo area. Obviously it's a local commuter only, and I do have a gas car as well (a very nice one in fact), but I only use the gas car when I need to -- if I'm making an optional trip to town to get ice cream or whatever, I grab the Leaf - I don't even think about it.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 08 2019, @05:41PM (1 child)
It's not a problem to be open to useful innovations - people buy them like hot cakes. However an EV today is useful, within strict limits, only to a subset of the population. People outside of this subset just cannot use an EV effectively. For example, I live in an apartment building in a city. To use an EV within the city people need a charger at every parking spot, so that you don't have to get up at night to unplug the car, and the cost of charging should be low. If you have a garage, that's easy, but if you live in an apt then it's not so easy. Right now if I buy a Leaf, I'd have to spend too much time and money to charge it even at home - gas is cheaper, and peace of mind is very valuable. I have a hybrid now, it works fine, but if I have to replace it, I'll get another dependable hybrid, not an EV - I just can't afford to care for it as much as an EV needs.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday September 09 2019, @02:10AM
It's not so strict a limit as you think. My brother uses an EV (BMW i3) to commute to work from Ypsilanti, MI, to Dearborn, MI every day. Some days he has to visit auto parts suppliers across the border in Ohio. He has a range extender, but rarely uses it. He reports using one fill-up of the 3-odd gallon tank per year.
My brother-in-law also commutes with an EV, also an i3, in suburban Long Island, from Syosset to Mineola. It's a brief drive, but he takes that same car up to ski at Hunter Mountain 150 miles away, to Connecticut, etc. He has a range extender, but on his regular routes he knows where the fast chargers are and takes his breaks there. Doesn't have to use the range extender much anymore. Last year he drove it up to camp with us in the Adirondacks, 255 miles away.
A year ago we did a road trip up to the northern tip of Newfoundland and passed Teslas on the way. There are no superchargers up there and it's the middle of fucking nowhere along that coast, so I asked my brother about how they could have managed. He said they charge up at motor parks where the Winnebagos hook in.
But with your particular situation, the question is sooner: why do you have a car at all? Can't you take transit or Ueber or Lyft? Zipcar? Car2Go? Bird? Delivery? I understand that there are edge cases for why somebody in your situation must drive and it must be an ICE, but the salient point here is that with all the alternatives and the current state of EVs, yours is an edge case.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday September 08 2019, @09:24PM
Beat up more than a rental car? Not seeing it myself. But then again, maybe the profit center in such an expensive rental car would be the customer paying for damages to the car. Then you'd want cheap rental to get more profitable accidents?