California should maintain its commitment to electric cars, says Dan Sperling, director of the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies. On Thursday, March 28, the California Air Resources Board is expected to approve a proposal to loosen its 1998 requirement that 2 percent of cars sold in the state have zero emissions. "It's appropriate to soften the mandate for the first few years, but this may be going too far," says Sperling, considered one of the country's leading academic experts on electric vehicle policy and marketing. "The board should keep automakers' feet to the fire," he says, "or development and commercialization of batteries and other electric-drive technology will slow to a virtual standstill." The decision has far-reaching implications. Electric cars may dramatically reduce air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and petroleum use, Sperling says. A perception of weakened support for the state's electric-car mandates could affect hundreds of companies now investing in electric-drive component technologies -- discouraging electric drive research and development in large companies and perhaps sending small entrepreneurial businesses into bankruptcy, Sperling says. Consumers, too, have something to lose, he adds. Electric cars will be attractive to many drivers for their quiet motors, low maintenance and home recharging capacity, among other attributes.