Partial Zero-Emission Vehicles [View All]

[Lefty48197]

I'm sorry I didn't post this yesterday, because it's nowhere to be found on the USA Today website archives today. The story appeared on page 1A of the 9/16/2003 issue of USA Today. It was titled, "One of these cars is an environmentalists dream".

"Imagine a car that pollutes so little, the exhaust is cleaner than the air you breathe in many cities, so nearly free of pollution that it's immeasurable by normal means.
Now imagine that instead of a science fiction machine, it looks and drives like any other car, is priced about the same and uses the same unleaded gasoline you've been buying at the corner station.
Ford and Toyota begin selling such cars nationwide next month, the first time that the super clean models will be available in showrooms in all states. The automakers are sweetening the package by swallowing the cost of making the vehicles nearly pollution-free.
Seven car companies have begun selling such low polluting cars in California, where they are called PZEV's, for partial zero-emission vehicles <snip>

Ford's 2004 nationwide PZEV Focus starts at $14,915. That's $115 more than a similarly equipped standard-emissions Ford...

...Ford says the PZEV Focus puts out a pound of smog producing pollutants in 15,000 miles on California gas, roughly two pounds on typical U.S. fuel. A non-PZEV Focus would put out 10.7 pounds in 15,000 miles, Ford calculates."