ROAD trips could come to a screeching halt in just weeks thanks to a new proposal to ban RVs completely. Automakers and environmental leaders are sparring over a crackdown on diesel emissions, but potential motorhome buyers have found a loophole. The drama started on October 24, when the California Air Resources Board voted to increase regulations on car manufacturers that make vehicles over 8,500 pounds.
Environmental officials want automakers to increase the percentage of zero-emission vehicles they make in their long-shot effort to ban gas-powered cars completely by 2035. But manufacturers say that technology doesn't even exist yet for diesel-powered motorhomes, which would be disproportionately affected by the law. Automakers have argued that RVs aren't popular enough to be driven off the road by overreaching regulations and urged CARB to stand down.
read more motors stories "RVs are low mileage, low fuel, and thus low-emission vehicles due to the low usage," Freightliner Customer Chassis leader Joy Snyder told CARB in an October 24 meeting, SFGATE reported. However, CARB hit back, saying there's no official ban and that manufacturers are being limited through a credit system. Automakers must earn credits to produce gas-powered engines by developing zero-emission vehicles.
Those who lack the technology to make EVs can borrow credits from other companies, which provides "the flexibility needed to sell as many internal combustion engines as is needed to meet market demands,.