It's official - no white HOV sticker in CA for the REx

[tiburonh]

http://green.autoblog.com/2014/01/16/bmw-i3-green-white-hov-sticker-california/

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1089732_2014-bmw-i3-range-extender-no-white-ca-carpool-lane-sticker-heres-why


Still at issue is which level of credit from CA the REx will get, $2,500 or $1,500.

 

[toolworker]

Well, this is really off-putting.

According to the article, after all that REx white sticker talk, it was never even a possibility.

And all those limits on the REx to meet BEVx standards - the small fuel tank, the engine not coming on until discharged? I had assumed they were for our benefit to earn the white sticker.

Turns out they were for BMW's benefit, to earn Zero-Emission Vehicle credits so BMW can continue to sell its gas guzzlers in California, or make money by selling the credits.

I had two hopes - that BMW would straighten things out and get the REx a white sticker, or that the green stickers would last until delivery. Now I've got one - and it doesn't look likely.

 

[tiburonh]

Well, this is really off-putting.

According to the article, after all that REx white sticker talk, it was never even a possibility.

And all those limits on the REx to meet BEVx standards - the small fuel tank, the engine not coming on until discharged? I had assumed they were for our benefit to earn the white sticker.

Turns out they were for BMW's benefit, to earn Zero-Emission Vehicle credits so BMW can continue to sell its gas guzzlers in California, or make money by selling the credits.

I had two hopes - that BMW would straighten things out and get the REx a white sticker, or that the green stickers would last until delivery. Now I've got one - and it doesn't look likely.

+1

 

[toolworker]

California law says white stickers are for "A vehicle that meets California’s super ultra-low emission vehicle (SULEV) standard for exhaust emissions and the federal inherently low-emission vehicle (ILEV) evaporative emission standard..."

The ILEV standard says "An ILEV must be able to operate on only one fuel, or must be certified as an ILEV on all fuels on which it can operate."

So it seems that the gas engine would have to be certified independent of any battery propulsion. Would that ever have been possible for the REx engine?

Did BMW know from the start that they couldn't get a white sticker for the REx, or did they try and fail?

Anyone know any more about this?

 

[agj]

Did BMW know from the start that they couldn't get a white sticker for the REx, or did they try and fail?

My 2 cents ... the GreenCarReport analysis makes sens.
BMW never actually said that the i3REx would qualify for the white sticker. As far as I remember, they only insisted on the fact that they managed to arrange a new category for it (BEVx). That the BEVx category would allow for a white sticker was just a speculation that gained momentum on the forums and in unofficial articles and reports at the end of last year.
What remains to be seen is weather CARB will extend the number of green stickers to make some room for the i3REx and the odds are that BMW lawyers are heavily lobbying at this very moment.

 

[toolworker]

What remains to be seen is weather CARB will extend the number of green stickers to make some room for the i3REx ...

Sorry, not possible. The 40,000 limit on green stickers is in Section 5205.5(f)(1) of the California Vehicle Code. It was just amended last year to extend the stickers' effectiveness through 2018, so another change is unlikely, even if there were time before my May 19 projected date to hit 40,000:

Politically, consider that the i3 is the closest competitor to the Tesla S. What do you think the chances are to ram through a California law benefiting a German company at the expense of one in Silicon Valley?

And consider public policy. Remember yellow stickers, which were issued starting in 2004 to encourage hybrids? No longer needed. Well, it would be hard to argue that the green stickers haven't accomplished the same thing for plug-in hybrids, which was the point of the 40,000 limit.

No, the only argument for the REx to get a sticker would have been that it's so close to being a pure electric car that it should be treated as one. I for one believe that, and so did the CARB, which gave it the BEVx classification so BMW can get the Zero Emission Vehicle manufacturer's credit. But the time and place to argue the sticker would have been in the legislature last year, and given the German vs. Silicon Valley competition, good luck with that.