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Dear Chairperson Nichols,

Although I live in Oregon, I grew up in California and my parents
live in Walnut Creek. 

California has the unique position to decide the options for
consumers. This not only is a step for California, but for the
whole nation in it's move to cut emmissions.

Please do not bend to the automanufacturers pressure.  
Do not reduce the ZEVs required of automakers.

Electric cars can be made as auto manufacturers have proven. 
1998-2000 saw automakers producing electric cars and trucks, but
when CARB changed the mandate back then, the manufacturers
stopped.

GM has said stopping the production of the EV1 was one of their
worst mistakes.  The margin on sales of a FORD F-350 is much
higher than the margin on a Ford Escort, so which vehicle do you
think will be promoted.  In 1982 I bought a Ford EXP.  It got 35
mpg. In 2007, I looked to find an affordable car that got 35 MPG
and couldn't find one.  What happened in 25 years????

I have a 1985 Ford Escort that was converted to Electric.  It gets
35-40 Miles per charge, and meets almost all of my driving needs.
But the car is over 20 years old. I can't get weatherstripping to
seal the doors and some parts are hard to come by.  But, I charge
it up by purchasing renewable energy, have no tune-ups or oil
changes, no exhaust system, no water pump or belts to break, no
radiator to overheat.  It is much more environmentally friendly
than any new car on the market today.

The US Bureau of Transportation shows that a typical round trip
commute is:
29% of Americans- less than 10 miles a day. 
51% of Americans- less than 20 miles a day.
68% of Americans- less than 30 miles a day.
78% are less than 40 miles a day.

If they could charge at work, 90% of Americans could use my
converted ford Escort to commute to work if they could charge it
at work.

My Ford Escort was converted in California when it was near the
end of it's life at 75,000 miles. It has now gone over 155,000
miles with more than half on batteries. Please don't listen to the
nay-sayers.  Electric cars are a viable technology now.

But it is going to take mass production, like Henry Ford did for
the Model-T, to get them into the hands of the consumer at an
affordable price.

Please:
Don't change the requirement for ZEVs that automakers had promised
for 2012-2014.

If you want to promote plug-in hybrids, set that as an additional
requirement.  But the plug in hybrid, still pollutes, needs
emission controls, has hundreds of moving engine parts, requires
specialized maintenance and parts, needs emmisions testing, oil
changes....etc.......

The country is looking to California to make a difference 

Please provide consumers an affordable choice to buy Zero-Emission
Vehicles (ZEVs)by keeping the current standards in place.