California cuts no-emissions vehicle requirement

SACRAMENTO (Reuters) - California's influential Air Resources Board on Thursday voted to reduce the number of pure zero-emissions vehicles required to be sold in the state between 2012 and 2014, though the cut was not as dramatic as the board's staff had proposed.

The board agreed to reduce the number of pure ZEVs, or cars powered entirely by batteries or hydrogen fuel cells, to 7,500 from the previous requirement of 25,000.

More than 50,000 so-called advanced technology partial ZEVs, including plug-in hybrids and compressed natural gas vehicles, would make up for the cutback in the pure ZEV requirement, the board decided.

(Reporting by Nichola Groom; Editing by Gary Hill)