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Porsche Club of America
The Northeast Region

By Bruce Hauben, Bruce993@PorscheNet.com
NOR'EASTER Online - December 2003

For many years I’ve wondered, while watching plows in the winter, how the state keeps track of all the privately contracted trucks. Now we know that they never have been able to keep track of them. I can’t be alone in having seen many times, a big conga line of six or eight plows, staggered so they overlap one another by 50%. Now this is great and will quickly clear a highway covered by a foot of snow, but haven’t we all seen too often that same conga line when there’s ¼” of slush in the breakdown lane and it’s 50° and thought that our taxes are being wasted?

To be expected, the snowplow drivers are rebelling and saying that they will not be plowing after Jan. 1 when the present contract expires. One driver said “Now it’s like a personal attack. It’s sad, after all these years of working hard…I don’t think they’ll ever work for the state again.” Seems to me that if you’ve been doing your job properly, there’s not going to be any change in what you’ve been doing. John Cogliano, the state highway commissioner is however sticking with the plan, saying that he will have no trouble in hiring replacement contractors and that 50% of last year’s drivers have already signed on for 2004. 

Of course, the politicians have to get into matters and State Senator Robert Havern of Arlington has called an emergency hearing for Dec. 2 to hear the drivers’ concerns. There go more taxes down the drain. On to other matters.

ULEV, SULEV and PZEV; no these are not anagrams but abbreviations for ultra-low, super-ultra-low, and partial zero-emission vehicles, clean car categories set by California and adopted by four other states: Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont and New York. To qualify as a PZEV under California rules, and hence MA rules also, the cars must meet the stringent SULEV standard AND have almost zero emissions from fuel vapors before the gas actually reaches the engine. Finally, the equipment necessary to achieve the PZEV levels must carry a 15yr., 150,000 mi. warranty from the manufacturer.

Eleven manufacturers have met the requirements for PZEV in 2004 without very high tech or expensive means. For example, Volvo in its S60 and V70 has the engines running very lean at start-up thus heating the cylinders and two catalytic converters, one of which is further heated by its proximity to the exhaust manifold. Computerized variable valve timing ensures that the cars fully burn the air-fuel mixture in the crucial start-up period.

The potential benefits from PZEV’s may outweigh those of the hybrid cars simply be shear volume. PZEVs look the same as other cars and perform as well, not to mention costing far less than hybrids. Ford has already sold 36,000 Focus PZEVs and projects 100,000 more through 2004 while the Toyota Prius has only 56,000 cars on the road after three years. The numbers for the Ford Focus, which may be projected to the other PZEVs are 97% less hydrocarbon and nitrogen oxide and 76% less carbon monoxide emissions than a similar non-PZEV. As is everything in life – a trade off – the PZEVs do nothing for fuel efficiency or carbon dioxide (the primary greenhouse gas) reduction.

For more details and a list of those 2004 vehicles meeting PZEV requirements, visit www.driveclean.ca.gov.
 

All-Star Quote Classics

“He is not only dull himself, he is the cause of dullness in others.” Samuel Johnson

“He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.” Winston Churchill

“I’ve just learned about his illness. Let’s hope it is nothing trivial.” Irvin S. Cobb

“He had delusions of adequacy.” Walter Kerr

“I’ve had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn’t it.” Groucho Marx

“He has the attention span of a lightening bolt.” Robert Redford

“Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.” Oscar Wilde

“He has Van Gogh’s ear for music.” Billy Wilder

“In order to avoid being called a flirt, she always yielded easily.” Count Charles Talleyrand

“He inherited some good instincts from his Quaker forebears, but by diligent hard work, he overcame them.” James Reston (about Richard Nixon)

“Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on it?” Mark Twain

“He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends.” Oscar Wilde

“He is simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up.” Paul Keating

Watch for full details in the January, 2004 Nor’easter for our Spring Ramble to Maine and get your applications in early. The trip sells out every year, so don’t miss out because you’re wishy-washy.