[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 19 (Monday, January 30, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4623-4625]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-1960]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[Docket No. NHTSA-2012-0013]


Wheego Electric Cars, Inc. Receipt of Petition for Temporary 
Exemption From the Electronic Stability Control Requirements of FMVSS 
No. 126

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 
Department of Transportation (DOT).

ACTION: Notice of receipt of a petition for temporary exemption from 
Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 126, Electronic 
Stability Control Systems.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the procedures in 49 CFR part 555, Wheego 
Electric Cars, Inc., has petitioned the agency for a temporary 
exemption from the electronic stability control requirements of FMVSS 
No. 126. The basis for the application is that the petitioner avers 
that the exemption would make the development or field evaluation of a 
low-emission vehicle easier and would not unreasonably lower the safety 
level of that vehicle.\1\ This notice of receipt of an application for 
a temporary exemption is published in accordance with statutory and 
administrative provisions. NHTSA has made no judgment on the merits of 
the application.
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    \1\ To view the application and its supplement, go to http://www.regulations.gov and enter the docket number set forth in the 
heading of this document.

DATES: You should submit your comments not later than February 29, 
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2012.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David Jasinski, Office of the Chief 
Counsel, NCC-112, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 1200 
New Jersey Avenue SE., West Building 4th Floor, Room W41-213, 
Washington, DC 20590. Telephone: (202) 366-2992; Fax: (202) 366-3820.

ADDRESSES: We invite you to submit comments on the application 
described above. You may submit comments identified by docket number at 
the heading of this notice by any of the following methods:
     Web Site: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments on the electronic docket site by 
clicking on ``Help and Information'' or ``Help/Info.''
     Fax: 1 (202) 493-2251.
     Mail: U.S. Department of Transportation, Docket 
Operations, M-

[[Page 4624]]

30, Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590.
     Hand Delivery: 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., West Building 
Ground Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., 
Monday through Friday, except Federal Holidays.
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting 
comments.
    Instructions: All submissions must include the agency name and 
docket number. Note that all comments received will be posted without 
change to http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal 
information provided. Please see the Privacy Act discussion below. We 
will consider all comments received before the close of business on the 
comment closing date indicated above. To the extent possible, we will 
also consider comments filed after the closing date.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received, go to http://www.regulations.gov at any time or to 
1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 
Washington, DC 20590, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, 
except Federal Holidays. Telephone: (202) 366-9826.
    Privacy Act: Anyone is able to search the electronic form of all 
comments received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual 
submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf 
of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review DOT's 
complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register published on 
April 11, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 70; Pages 19477-78) or you may visit 
http://www.dot.gov/privacy.html.
    Confidential Business Information: If you wish to submit any 
information under a claim of confidentiality, you should submit three 
copies of your complete submission, including the information you claim 
to be confidential business information, to the Chief Counsel, NHTSA, 
at the address given under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. In 
addition, you should submit two copies, from which you have deleted the 
claimed confidential business information, to Docket Management at the 
address given above. When you send a comment containing information 
claimed to be confidential business information, you should include a 
cover letter setting forth the information specified in our 
confidential business information regulation (49 CFR Part 512).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Statutory Basis for Temporary Exemptions

    The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act (Safety Act), 
codified as 49 U.S.C. Chapter 301, authorizes the Secretary of 
Transportation to exempt, on a temporary basis and under specified 
circumstances, motor vehicles from a motor vehicle safety standard or 
bumper standard. This authority is set forth at 49 U.S.C. 30113. The 
Secretary has delegated the authority in this section to NHTSA.
    NHTSA established 49 CFR part 555, Temporary Exemption from Motor 
Vehicle Safety and Bumper Standards, to implement the statutory 
provisions concerning temporary exemptions. A vehicle manufacturer 
wishing to obtain an exemption from a standard must demonstrate in its 
application (A) that an exemption would be in the public interest and 
consistent with the Safety Act and (B) that the manufacturer satisfies 
one of the following four bases for an exemption: (i) Compliance with 
the standard would cause substantial economic hardship to a 
manufacturer that has tried to comply with the standard in good faith; 
(ii) the exemption would make easier the development or field 
evaluation of a new motor vehicle safety feature providing a safety 
level at least equal to the safety level of the standard; (iii) the 
exemption would make the development or field evaluation of a low-
emission motor vehicle easier and would not unreasonably lower the 
safety level of that vehicle; or (iv) compliance with the standard 
would prevent the manufacturer from selling a motor vehicle with an 
overall safety level at least equal to the overall safety level of 
nonexempt vehicles.
    For an exemption petition to be granted on the basis that the 
exemption would make the development or field evaluation of a low-
emission motor vehicle easier and would not unreasonably lower the 
safety level of the vehicle, the petition must include specified 
information set forth at 49 CFR 555.6(c). The main requirements of that 
section include: (1) Substantiation that the vehicle is a low-emission 
vehicle; (2) documentation establishing that a temporary exemption 
would not unreasonably degrade the safety of a vehicle; (3) 
substantiation that a temporary exemption would facilitate the 
development or field evaluation of the vehicle; (4) a statement of 
whether the petitioner intends to conform to the standard at the end of 
the exemption period; and (5) a statement that not more than 2,500 
exempted vehicles will be sold in the United States in any 12-month 
period for which an exemption may be granted.

II. Electronic Stability Control Systems Requirement

    In April 2007, NHTSA published a final rule requiring that vehicles 
with a gross vehicle weight rating of 4,536 kilograms (kg) (10,000 
pounds) or less be equipped with electronic stability control (ESC) 
systems. ESC systems use automatic computer-controlled braking of 
individual wheels to assist the driver in maintaining control in 
critical driving situations in which the vehicle is beginning to lose 
directional stability at the rear wheels (spin out) or directional 
control at the front wheels (plow out). An anti-lock brake system (ABS) 
is a prerequisite for an ESC system because ESC uses many of the same 
components as ABS. Thus, the cost of complying with FMVSS No. 126 is 
less for vehicle models already equipped with ABS.
    Preventing single-vehicle loss-of-control crashes is the most 
effective way to reduce deaths resulting from rollover crashes. This is 
because most loss-of-control crashes culminate in the vehicle leaving 
the roadway, which dramatically increases the probability of a 
rollover. NHTSA's crash data study of existing vehicles equipped with 
ESC demonstrated that these systems reduce fatal single-vehicle crashes 
of passenger cars by 55 percent and fatal single-vehicle crashes of 
light trucks and vans (LTVs) by 50 percent.\2\ NHTSA estimates that ESC 
has the potential to prevent 56 percent of the fatal passenger car 
rollovers and 74 percent of the fatal LTV first-event rollovers that 
would otherwise occur in single-vehicle crashes.\3\
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    \2\ Sivinski, R., Crash Prevention Effectiveness of Light-
Vehicle Electronic Stability Control: An Update of the 2007 NHTSA 
Evaluation; DOT HS 811 486 (June 2011).
    \3\ Id.
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    The ESC requirement became effective for substantially all vehicles 
on September 1, 2011.

III. Overview of Petition

    In accordance with 49 U.S.C. 30113 and the procedures in 49 CFR 
Part 555, Wheego Electric Cars, Inc. (Wheego) submitted a petition 
dated August 15, 2011 asking the agency for a temporary exemption from 
the electronic stability control requirements of FMVSS No. 126. Wheego 
submitted a supplement to its application by letter dated December 2, 
2011. The basis for the application is that the exemption would make 
the development or field evaluation of a low-emission vehicle easier 
and would not unreasonably lower the safety level

[[Page 4625]]

of that vehicle. Wheego has requested an exemption for the LiFe model 
until August 1, 2012.
    Wheego is a Delaware corporation with its headquarters in Atlanta, 
Georgia. Wheego began manufacturing and selling low-speed electric 
vehicles in the U.S. in June 2009. In April 2011, Wheego began 
manufacturing its first all-electric passenger car, the two-door, two-
seat LiFe model. Wheego also states that it is developing a four-door 
passenger vehicle for sale in late 2012.
    In February 2011, Wheego was granted a temporary exemption from the 
advanced air bag requirements of FMVSS No. 208, Occupant Crash 
Protection, that is effective until February 11, 2013.\4\ Wheego states 
that it plans to meet all other currently applicable FMVSSs for a 
passenger car.
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    \4\ See 76 FR 7898 (Feb. 11, 2011); Docket No. NHTSA-2010-0118.
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    Wheego asserts that the company had intended to develop an ESC 
system for the LiFe. However, Wheego asserts that delays in funding and 
later developments made it impossible for Wheego to develop an ESC 
system for the LiFe before September 2011. Wheego requests an exemption 
from the ESC requirements until August 1, 2012 for up to 500 vehicles 
so that it can continue its development and evaluation of a low-
emission vehicle.\5\ Wheego states that the company intends to comply 
with FMVSS No. 126 at the end of the exemption period.
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    \5\ Wheego initially requested an exemption for up to 1,000 
vehicles, but later amended its petition to request no more than 500 
exempted vehicles.
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    Wheego asserts that a temporary exemption would not unreasonably 
degrade the safety or impact protection of the vehicle. Wheego states 
that the LiFe has an ABS system that prevents loss of control by 
preventing the wheels from locking up and the tires from skidding 
during braking. Wheego also asserts that its standard tires are wide 
with wide, circumferential grooves that provide rapid water evacuation 
to aid wet traction. Wheego notes that the LiFe is limited to a top 
speed of 65 mph, which may contribute to a reduction of crashes 
associated with high speeds. Wheego also states that the LiFe has a low 
center of gravity with 762 pounds of batteries beneath the floorboard 
of the vehicle. Further, Wheego argues that the relatively limited 
range of the LiFe compared to gasoline-powered vehicles (100 miles 
before needing a charge) makes it less likely that a LiFe would be 
involved in a high-speed or rollover crash. Wheego also asserts that 
the relatively small number of vehicles that would be produced under 
the exemption suggests that the exemption would have a negligible 
effect on vehicle safety.
    Wheego argues that an exemption would make the development or field 
evaluation of a low-emission vehicle easier. Wheego states that it 
would be able to use consumer feedback and other testing and evaluation 
to improve design and efficiency to improve charging, battery 
management, and safety systems in future vehicle models. Wheego states 
that, without the exemption, the company would not be able to produce 
enough cars or revenue to sustain these developments or to launch a new 
vehicle model. Wheego also believes that its success can add to the 
overall development of low-emission vehicles as a whole by 
demonstrating the viability of electric cars to consumers and 
encouraging other manufacturers to build electric cars.
    Wheego also asserts that the granting of the exemption would be in 
the public interest. Wheego notes that NHTSA has traditionally found 
that the public interest is served by affording consumers a wider 
variety of motor vehicles, by encouraging the development of fuel-
efficient and alternative-energy vehicles, and by providing additional 
employment opportunities. Wheego asserts that granting this petition 
serves each of those interests.

IV. Completeness and Comment Period

    Upon receiving a petition, NHTSA conducts an initial review of the 
petition with respect to whether the petition is complete and whether 
the petitioner appears to be eligible to apply for the requested 
petition. The agency has tentatively concluded that the petition from 
Wheego is complete and that Wheego is eligible to apply for a temporary 
exemption. The agency has not made any judgment on the merits of the 
application, and is placing a non-confidential copy of the petition in 
the docket.
    The agency seeks comment from the public on the merits of Wheego's 
application for a temporary exemption from FMVSS No. 126. We are 
providing a 30-day comment period. After considering public comments 
and other available information, we will publish a notice of final 
action on the application in the Federal Register.

    Issued on: January 24, 2012.
Christopher J. Bonanti,
Associate Administrator for Rulemaking.
[FR Doc. 2012-1960 Filed 1-27-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P