New vehicle design surpasses California’s emission standards

Thu, 2007-03-01 10:40Bill Miller
Bill Miller's picture

New vehicle design surpasses California’s emission standards

Dubbed the UCS Vanguard, the minivan features off-the-shelf engine, transmission and fueling systems and other technologies that would save consumers money, maintain vehicle safety and performance, and cut greenhouse-gas emissions more than 40 percent.

All technologies in the Vanguard are in vehicles on the road today, but automakers have yet to combine them all in one single package. Automakers are currently fighting these standards in court.

Tags: 
Union of Concerned Scientists
california
Arnold Scwharzenegger
vehicle design

Comments

Thu, 2007-03-01 11:09 — Karlin
"The automakers are sticking to their traditional 'can't do' philosophy" says the last paragraph in this article. They are crying about added production costs of making a "green vehicle" , even as the sky is falling. Funny how it is similiar to PM Harper's "Can't Do" stance on Kyoto [even though Kyoto is just a basic starting point to combatting global warming]. / Perhaps that "can't do" tactic is taught at the climate change deniers schools that all the corporate humps go to. / About the actual design of this vehicle, I am not convinced that ethanol from crops is a good way to go. Anything is better than fossil fuels, but bio-fuels have some unresolved issues and are not getting away from the 'centralised corporate model' that these scientists seem to be married to. I favour the type of green vehicles that we can power from our own solar panels... and I hope some scientists are working on bringing that option to the marketplace quickly.

Thu, 2007-03-01 11:19 — Alex
Indeed, ethanol can only work as a temporary solution. The automakers should really switch to electric vehicles. A great example is Tesla Motors -- they are already producing electric sports cars capable of going 250 miles on a single charge and plan to introduce family friendly sedans in the next 3-4 years. See http://www.teslamotors.com.