Project Summary
How effectively different policies and incentives influence the growth of the zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) market is an immediate and important question for California. Adding urgency is the passage of two laws in 2017 (AB 615 and SB 498), which direct the CA Air Resources Board (CARB) to review the state’s ZEV programs and provide recommendations on how to improve the effectiveness of these programs. One immediate need is material estimates of policy factors that influence ZEV adoption. UC Davis will lead an effort to synthesize the state of the research on a range of ZEV policies and incentives in a manner that is directly usable by CARB and the Legislature to inform future policy. For each policy topic, a detailed literature review will be performed and results highlighted in a policy brief along with standardized best-estimate elasticities. For strategies with a smaller body of research, UC Davis will work with experts to develop consensus and / or incorporate results from unpublished work. Potential policy factors to be examined as part of this effort include the following: Impact of Income Caps on ZEV Sales; Impact of Increased Rebates for Low-Income Buyers; Impact of Increased Outreach on ZEV Sales; A Comparison of ZEV Policies in Other States and Countries; Fleet Purchase Impact on ZEV Deployment; Charging Infrastructure Policy (e.g. rate structures, utility rate base) and Deployment (i.e. impact of public charging on ZEV purchase); Market Transformation (e.g., learning by doing, economies of scale, policy certainty); and Quantification of Emissions Reductions Attributable to the California Clean Vehicle Rebate Project (CVRP) and Cost-Benefit Synthesis
