AUGUSTA – The Maine Board of Environmental Protection voted unanimously Thursday to repeal a provision of the state’s air quality program requiring Maine auto dealers to offer zero-emission vehicles to the public.

Adopted in 1993, the Low Emission Vehicle Program included the zero-emission mandate as a component. Zero-emission vehicles are most commonly defined as battery-powered cars that can be recharged on household current, although consideration is under way to expand the classification to include gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles and gasoline-fueled cars using a new “superclean” technology.

Ron Severance, director of program planning for the state’s Bureau of Air Quality, said the absence of conforming low-emission vehicle legislation in other states delayed Maine’s implementation of the program. Severance said his department concurred with representatives of the Maine Automobile Dealers Association, which has criticized the zero-emission vehicle mandate as impractical.

The state policy is modeled after a California law requiring that 10 percent of all cars sold in the state fall into the zero-emission category, beginning with the 2003 production year. Auto dealers in Maine and California have argued that there are not enough companies making electric or electric-gasoline hybrids at this time to be able to offer the vehicles for sale.

“Back in 1993, looking for a mandate in 2003 seemed practical, but the closer we get to the 2003 mandate we can see that they’re not quite there yet,” Severance said. “The dealers said that even if the vehicles were provided to them, they would have trouble getting them off the lot.”

The BEP panel also directed staff at the state Department of Environmental Protection to report back in July with an update on the progress California is making on its zero-emission vehicle mandate, particularly in the area of flexibility to recognize hybrids and other vehicles that meet zero-emission standards.

“So the board wanted to be supportive, but at the same time recognize the reality of imposing a zero-emission vehicle mandate in Maine as untimely,” Severance said.

In making its decision, the BEP board also chose to adopt California’s second generation of standards for the low-emission vehicle program in Maine. That policy recommends that all new vehicles under 6,000 pounds sold in the state of Maine must meet California certified emissions standards, starting with model year 2004.

Severance said Maine’s low-emission vehicle program has been “pretty much transparent” to the public and has been greatly influenced by Massachusetts’ low-emission vehicle program, which has been in place since 1996. Because so many of the cars bound for Maine’s new vehicle market pass through Massachusetts, consumers have already accustomed themselves to the cleaner-running cars.

“We’ve been seeing these vehicles in Maine for years. The public just doesn’t realize it,” Severance said. “There’s really no cost difference. They’re just cleaner vehicles than the old federal-standard vehicles.”

Sue Jones, of the Natural Resources Council of Maine, emphasized that about 50 electric-gasoline hybrids were sold in Maine this year and that market demand has created back orders for such vehicles that average between 50 and 60 miles-per-gallon. She said older polluting cars and trucks are the largest contributors to ground ozone in the state and that vehicles using the latest technology tend to run between 85 and 95 percent cleaner.

“We’re very happy that the Board of Environmental Protection adopted the California low-emission vehicle 2 standards,” she said. “However, we’re also very relieved that they did not [totally] reject the zero-emission vehicle mandate and that they will consider it again in the spring.”