Prospective ZAP Xebra owners in Mass. take note: your State has just revoked all of the current registrations for the electric three-wheelers. It seems that the State has just come to realize that the machines don't actually qualify as either motorcycles or cars, despite laws regulating three-wheeled vehicles as motorcycles. The hiccup is apparently the roof overhead, as the law oddly allows a single occupant under an enclosed structure, but not a driver and a passenger together. Seems a bit arbitrary, wouldn't you say? In any case, that definition is expected to be changed soon enough, though that doesn't help the owners who have already purchased the vehicles.

One Xebra owner named Ben Burnham says, ""I'm not trying to change the world. I just thought it was cool, a plus for the environment, and that I could save a couple of bucks," Burnham said. To that end, Burnham has replaced his now unregistered Xebra with a Corbin Sparrow, which passes the State's laws due to its single seat.

Related:

• Update: three-wheelers might be registerable soon in Ohio

[Source: Taunton Gazette / Photo: Greg Derr]

Photo by Wili_Hybrid. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.

Massachusetts drivers are voting with their rides. According to the insurance company Travelers of Massachusetts, the number of hybrid drivers in the Bay State rose 36 percent in the last nine months. The numbers, from the state's Registry of Motor Vehicles, show that there are 22,353 registered hybrid cars on the roads in Massachusetts today, compared to 16,477 last July. That's an increase of 5,876 hybrids, or about 653 a month. One reason Travelers is paying attention to these numbers is because they offer a hybrid driver's discount (up to ten percent) for vehicles and drivers in Massachusetts. Of course, the national company offers hybrid discounts to drivers around the U.S., and you can find out if you qualify at the Hybrid Travelers website. Details after the jump.

Seventeen states are backing Massachusetts in a petition to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia that would force the EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. Filed one year after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the EPA needed to decide on regulating vehicle emissions - a year in which the EPA failed to take any action - the petition asks that the court demand the EPA release a decision in the next 60 days. When Massachusetts took the EPA to court in 2006 to decide the issue, the senior attorney for the Sierra Club, David Bookbinder, told Newsweek that the Supreme Court would have to issue a clear ruling. "There's really no wiggle room. Either EPA has this authority or not. It's a very plain language case," he said at the time. A year and a half later, here we are.

The states are: Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and the District of Columbia. Thirteen other entities, including the City of New York and the Mayor and City Council for Baltimore, Friends of the Earth, and the Sierra Club, signed onto the suit.

The Massachusetts Attorney General called the 18-state petition an "extraordinary measure to fight the dangers of climate change." We'll see if this is enough to get the EPA to act this time.

[Source: Massachusetts AG via DieselNet]

Plymouth Rock Studios, a film and television Production Campus being developed in Plymouth, Massachusetts, has decided to go green with the rental cars that will undoubtedly be required by the actors, studio execs and visitors. In order to make this happen, they have teamed up with Enterprise Rent-A-Car, which has already seen some coverage here at AutoblogGreen. Enterprise will be providing the an all-hybrid fleet of rental cars to Plymouth Rock Studios, making them "an official Green Alliance Partner" with the studio ... for whatever that's worth. Hyperbole aside, offering a hybrid-only fleet is a step in the right direction and we hope that other studios can find a way to follow the example set here. Details after the break.

Does the Clean Air Act give the EPA power to regulate greenhouse gases? If so, can the EPA avoid exercising that authority simply because it doesn't want to? These are the two primary questions David Bookbinder, senior attorney for the Sierra Club, wants the U.S. Supreme Court to answer when Massachusetts v. EPA goes to trial in December.

The trial has the potential of delivering an immense impact to the environment. Last Sunday, Newsweek's Debra Rosenberg conducted an interview with Mr. Bookbinder. Excerpts of that interview can be found here while some notable points of the interview are as follows.

When asked about the potential of the Supreme Court to sidestep the case and rule on mere technicalities, Mr. Bookbinder said, "No, I don't think so. There's really no wiggle room. Either EPA has this authority or not. It's a very plain language case."

As for the impact on states and cities, Mr. Bookbinder says, "It will be very difficult for California, whose authority also comes from the Clean Air Act, to say they have authority to regulate greenhouse gases if the EPA does not." However, he also states that the outcome of the case should not affect the bill passed last week by California's legislature curbing emissions of power plants and factories.

When speaking on the diversity of their supporters Mr. Bookbinder also notes that they include two of the largest power generators in the U.S. - Entergy and Calpine. The reason for their support, he states, is "They say we are building the next generation of power plants and we'd like to have some certainty."

Related:

• BP America will work with Schwarzenegger on greenhouse gas bill
• California to cap all greenhouse gas emissions
  

[Source: Newsweek via MSNBC]

The days of the 8-month waiting list to buy a hybrid or dealers selling them for more than sticker could be drawing to a close.

A report in a Massachusetts newspaper says the waiting list is down to three months at a local Toyota dealer, and there is no waiting list at the Honda dealer. Crossover vehicles such as the RAV4 are selling like crazy, however. Also, the 4-cylinder Corolla and new Scion models are more popular than ever. Even the AAA spokesman believes hybrid sales have "spiked and leveled off." Experts say shoppers are weighing the fuel-mileage benefits against the higher initial cost. That's an indication shoppers are doing more research and possibly why subcompact sales has grown so fast this year.

[Source: The Sun Chronicle]