As used in this article, “low-emission motor vehicle” means a motor vehicle which has been certified by the state board to meet all applicable emission standards and which meets at least one of the following additional requirements:
(a) Is capable of operating on methanol, as determined by the state board, and will have an adverse impact on ambient ozone air quality not greater than a vehicle which meets the requirements of subdivision (c).
(b) Is capable of operating on any available fuel other than gasoline or diesel and, in the determination of the state board, will have an adverse impact on ambient ozone air quality not greater than a vehicle operating on methanol.
(c) Operates exclusively on gasoline and is certified to meet a hydrocarbon exhaust emission standard which is at least twice as stringent as otherwise applicable to gasoline vehicles of the same year and class.
(d) Is capable, in the case of a heavy-duty diesel vehicle, of meeting standards for either oxides of nitrogen or particulate matter that are twice as stringent as otherwise applicable.
(e) Has been modified from its configuration, as originally certified by the state board, by the use of an emissions retrofit device approved for use on the vehicle, and which reduces the combined emissions of ozone precursor chemicals from the vehicle by at least 30 percent.
(f) This section shall become inoperative five years from the date determined pursuant to Section 32 of the act adding this subdivision, and on the January 1 following that date is repealed.
(Amended by Stats. 1994, Ch. 1192, Sec. 16. Effective January 1, 1995. Operative on date prescribed by Sec. 32 of Ch. 1192. Inoperative five years from operative date. Repealed on January 1 after inoperative date, by its own provisions. See later operative version added by Sec. 16.5 of Ch. 1192.)