“Partial Zero”?
The expression caught me by surprise - in the closing lines of a radio commercial - what the fuck did she just say? I couldn’t have heard that right, partial zero?
But that’s what I heard. Enter the PZEV, a Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle.
As one who likes clarity in communication and abhors obfuscation, so the environmentalist in me finds such “obfus-speak” insulting. And I didn’t jump to any conclusions. I was careful not to prejudge. The pragmatist in me could understand the logic of compromise to move forward on a important issue. But Partial Zero, was that a joke? Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle; at first I was moved to agree with the idea if not the term.
Quoting from Wikipedia:
The expression caught me by surprise - in the closing lines of a radio commercial - what the fuck did she just say? I couldn’t have heard that right, partial zero?
But that’s what I heard. Enter the PZEV, a Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle.
As one who likes clarity in communication and abhors obfuscation, so the environmentalist in me finds such “obfus-speak” insulting. And I didn’t jump to any conclusions. I was careful not to prejudge. The pragmatist in me could understand the logic of compromise to move forward on a important issue. But Partial Zero, was that a joke? Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle; at first I was moved to agree with the idea if not the term.
Quoting from Wikipedia:
This vehicle category was created as part of a bargain with the California
Air Resources Board (CARB), so that the automobile manufacturers could avoid producing mandated zero emission
vehicles (ZEVs), which would have required the production of electric vehicles, under the theory that a large number of low pollution vehicles would produce the equivalent pollution reduction of a lesser number of zero-emissions vehicles.
However, a little research convinced me that the compromise category was pretty much a sell out. I followed a link to A listing of PZEV compliant cars. At the top of the list is 3 liter 6 cylinder BMW! Or how about the Mercedes-Benz E-Class vehicles?
I can only conclude that someone in a powerful position in California took the boxing equivalent of a dive.
The official California DRIVECLEAN web site’s provided “vehicle web site link” was a dead end so I just searched for Mercedes-Benz.com and followed links to the E-Class Overview. Somehow a Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle seems to be the last thing they are selling.
Partial Zero my ass!
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