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# Dubin Scotts urge governor to keep state's zero-emission car mandate
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/off-the-grid/
- Published: 2008-03-24T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T18:56:04.000Z
- Author: Kevin Herrera
- Tags: Environment, Sunset Park, #archive-import

*CARB looking to be more flexible*

SUNSET PARK A Santa Monica couple with a passion for sustainability is waging a clean car campaign, urging the governor and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to protect the electric car by requiring automakers to rev up production instead of pumping the brakes.

Paul and Zan Dubin Scott of “Who Killed the Electric Car?” fame and co-founders of Plug-In America have fired off a letter (along with a few celebrities and a former CIA director) to the governor calling on him to stick with the state’s progressive Zero Emissions Vehicle program, which was adopted in 1990 and requires automakers to produce 75,000 Zero Emission Vehicles (ZEVS) by 2017.

CARB is considering changes that would reduce that number considerably — around 27,500 — by allowing the auto industry to earn credit for producing low-emission and partial zero-emission vehicles like hybrids. The change would reduce the cost of compliance by $1.3 billion annually from 2012- 2014, and by nearly $900 million in 2015- 2017, according to a CARD staff report. “We have been driving a fully electric car (not a hybrid) for six years,” Zan Dubin Scott said. “We haven’t been to the gas station once in that time. And we charge our car with electricity generated by the solar panels on our roof. We are driving on sunshine — Zero pollution — when others are paying $4 per gallon for gasoline that is wreaking havoc with our environment and causing national insecurity.”

Plug-In America is calling on the governor and CARB to “hold firm” on the original ZEV numbers and to make other changes, such as requiring public fleets to purchase ZEVS when practical.

The ZEV program, which is credited with pushing automakers to produce alternative vehicles,has been modified four times since its inception to reflect changes in technology. CARB staff is defending the recommendations, saying they still reflect the original goal of the program — to greatly reduce harmful emissions — but allow for more flexibility that incorporates several technologies. The changes also create more incentives for automakers to explore alternative vehicles with the hopes that one will come up with a technology that is economically feasible.

“We are not putting all of our eggs in one basket,” said Leo Kay, director of communications for CARB. “I think we are seeing a mix of electric vehicles, we see plug-in hybrids, fuel cell technology, hydrogen, ethanol, flexible fuel vehicles, so ultimately I think it’s safe to say whatever the board ends up agreeing to, it will allow for a greater diversity of technologies.

“No one’s mind is set by any stretch,” Kay added. “(The board) will be realistic about what the limitations are of certain technologies and then struggle with trying to figure out what we can realistically expect the engineers at the major auto manufacturers to come up with to meet reduction goals.”

Auto-manufacturers are pushing for changes that will allow them to meet the requirements by producing plug-in hybrids, hydrogen fuel-cell, as well as pure, battery-powered ZEVs. By embracing the various technologies, automakers can see which takes the lead in the marketplace and then dedicate resources to production instead of research and development.

While battery-powered vehicles are an option, the technology hasn’t evolved as quickly as the auto industry would like, the batteries still unable to take drivers long distances, said Gloria Bergquist, vice president of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, who specializes in environmental and safety issues.

“We wish that the state of California could mandate technological breakthroughs … on advanced batteries and we would welcome that …,” Bergquist said. “In the mean-time we are working on it and a range of other technologies that the marketplace will accept. Some people like iPods and others like MP3 players.”

The auto industry ranks high on the list in terms of spending on research and development, dedicating roughly $1 billion to create one new model, Bergquist said. That includes safety tests, creating facilities to produce it and training dealers to be able to repair or replace parts.

“I think there is a sense that (creating battery breakthroughs) is a great priority because that could take us a lot farther in removing us from our dependence on foreign oil,” Bergquist said.

The Scotts are already living off the grid, and believe other people, if given the opportunity, will do the same. That is why they and others like them will be traveling to Sacramento this week to rally and try to once again save the electric car.

“We know (ZEVS) can work, we just need more of them out there,”Paul Scott said as he leaned up against his green Toyota RAV4 EV, one of several hundred he and others helped save in 2003 when regulators reversed themselves and automakers recalled and destroyed hundreds of the leased vehicles. “(Automakers and CARB) need to stick to the number they agreed to in 2003,” Paul Scott added.“We can’t let them off the hook.”

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 24, 2008.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/032408.pdf?ref=smdp.com)