Project Summary
Research is beginning to highlight various challenges that need to be met to achieve California’s electrification goals including those set by the zero emission vehicle (ZEV) program and the target of 100% of ZEV sales by 2035 set by Governor Newsom’s Executive Order N-79-20. These challenges include: (i) the phasing out of incentives over time, (ii) the fact that some early ZEV buyers are discontinuing their ZEV ownership, (iii) low consumer awareness of ZEVs, (iv) a lack of affordable ZEV models, and (v) the inequitable distribution of charging infrastructure and incentives. Understanding these challenges is important to developing strategies and policies to meet state electrification goals. This project will review previous technical research conducted at the four UC ITS campuses (Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, and UCLA), and by other research groups regarding consumer awareness and adoption of ZEVs, incentives, infrastructure, the ZEV market, and equity. The project team will also hold a workshop with international scholars to obtain information about newer and unpublished research findings that may inform challenges to increasing the adoption of ZEVs. The workshop will include participants from nations with more developed ZEV markets than California (Norway, Sweden, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Germany, France, and others) to increase understanding about barriers and enablers in reaching larger ZEV market shares. The project team will document findings in various policy-oriented materials, including a report, policy brief, a blog post, and presentations reflecting currently known issues and issues that will emerge from the literature review and workshop. The final report and policy brief will outline how these challenges manifest, how they could impact the ZEV market, potential solutions to these challenges, and policy recommendations.
