Specifically, AB 2061 is intended to give consumer-market vehicles priority for funding so that ZEVs are brought to price parity with comparable gas models. This could have dramatically affected consumer incentives in mid-2002, when a large number of ZEVs are expected to reach the marketplace. The bill then returned to the Assembly for concurrence on Senate amendments, and went to the Governor for enrollment. CAFE standards, set since 1975, are 27.5 miles per gallon for cars, but only 20.7 mpg for light trucks. The result is an increased demand for gas and a decrease in resources.
Polls show strong public support for higher fuel standards .
Transportation consumes two-thirds of the nation's oil. The phased increase in fuel efficiency could result in saving up to 10.7 billion gallons of gasoline per year and reducing 128 million tons of greenhouse gases in our environment starting in 2010 . This vote took place as part of the debate on the Bush Administration's broad energy package. The 510-page energy bill now moves on to the Senate for discussion, where Senator Feinstein's bill and other measures intended to raise CAFE standards should be received more favorably than in the House. Ensuring a diverse fuel supply for electricity generation is viewed as critical for stabilizing the electricity market.