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mattygh | 7 years ago

That's probably been the main driver over time

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lostcolony|7 years ago

The effects are felt elsewhere, too. Most manufacturers aren't going to design two versions of a model for two regions, the energy efficient one, and the less energy efficient one. They'll just work to make one that fits the more stringent one. California has been one of the biggest drivers of EE nationwide because of that.

It's interesting to see it in practice too; if you move to California and bring a car, part of the registration process is to check the car and make sure it indicates it meets California requirements in design and build (not just smog testing; they do that too, but the actual registration/titling will involve them popping the hood and checking the car has the right markings). And basically every modern car does.

village-idiot|7 years ago

CARB is basically the EPA now. They're the ones that prosecuted Dieselgate, as they're the only regulator who put the screws to VW once they realized what was going on.

martinpw|7 years ago

The federal government is trying to take away California's right to set their own vehicle standards. Is anything similar happening with these other energy efficiency standards? I believe there were moves to roll these back too at a federal level, eg trying to kill Energy Star:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/03/2...

but if California is able to retain their own standards then these federal proposals would also hopefully be ineffective.

r00fus|7 years ago

This is possible because CA is the biggest economy in the US (6th largest worldwide) so the manufacturers can't ignore it.