No, I know you didn't write the letter...I just kept on rambling from my initial statement to you. ;o)
I get how AZ classifies vehicles differently than CA. And my main point about the current construction of SB535 is that I don't think ZEV/ATPZEV/PZEV is the appropriate metric for this incentive (perfect example of Maslow's maxim though) but as long as we're going to use it, let's use it for all vehicles. CNG would still get access either way, but if e-ATPZEVs are ever phased out in favor of ZEV only, CNG would go with it.
I disagree that lots of Volt folks will forget to charge up, or choose not to. I absolutely think this may happen on the PHEV Prius, and am already hearing of folks who plan on getting one because it's now their cheapest entry into the HOV lane without having to go EV. But with the incremental price of the Volt and fact that most early adopters have garages, we really have no basis to believe that Volt folks will buy that car and not plug it in. It will certainly be the exception, not the rule. The difference between that and your bi-fuel example is that short of a still, no one has an ethanol station in his garage.
As for whether anything non-ZEV should be allowed access, I think it's possible to make the bar appropriately high without making it black or white, especially in light of our years in allowing hybrid access. Making it ZEV only keeps a lot of folks for whom a Leaf doesn't work in their gas cars. But we'll have to agree to disagree on that one, methinks.
I get how AZ classifies vehicles differently than CA. And my main point about the current construction of SB535 is that I don't think ZEV/ATPZEV/PZEV is the appropriate metric for this incentive (perfect example of Maslow's maxim though) but as long as we're going to use it, let's use it for all vehicles. CNG would still get access either way, but if e-ATPZEVs are ever phased out in favor of ZEV only, CNG would go with it.
I disagree that lots of Volt folks will forget to charge up, or choose not to. I absolutely think this may happen on the PHEV Prius, and am already hearing of folks who plan on getting one because it's now their cheapest entry into the HOV lane without having to go EV. But with the incremental price of the Volt and fact that most early adopters have garages, we really have no basis to believe that Volt folks will buy that car and not plug it in. It will certainly be the exception, not the rule. The difference between that and your bi-fuel example is that short of a still, no one has an ethanol station in his garage.
As for whether anything non-ZEV should be allowed access, I think it's possible to make the bar appropriately high without making it black or white, especially in light of our years in allowing hybrid access. Making it ZEV only keeps a lot of folks for whom a Leaf doesn't work in their gas cars. But we'll have to agree to disagree on that one, methinks.