Quote:
Originally Posted by dgbint
I know.
On my last visit to California, I rented an intermediate size car, and they gave me a Prius.
Interesting experience.
My point is, don't these cars cost considerably more than the equivalenat standard, conventional car ?
Why would the rental company have those in their fleet ?
Are they compelled by CA law to have a certain % of low pollution cars ?
Can anybody shed light on that for me ?
Michael
(Australia)
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The most populated area in CA is the Los Angeles basin, a seaside area surrounded by the Santa Monica Mountains. Nine milliion people live there, and 10 million vehicles are registered there. By comparison, In all of New York State, including Long Island and New York City, there are only 3.5 vehicles.
The mountains keep the exhaust (smoke) from the cars in, and the marine layer (fog) holds on to the exhaust (smoke) as well, creating "smog". After killing many people through respiratory diseases, the CA government decided to aggressively write laws to promote cleaner air, including requiring and promoting engines that cut down or eliminated emissions. CA is still the most progressive state in this area. (see quade's post above).
Tim