Clean Vehicle Policy

Transforming the global transportation system to consist of zero-emission vehicles is critical to reducing the impacts of climate change and improving local air quality. Policymakers in the U.S. have adopted various policy incentives to induce drivers to purchase advanced clean vehicles, aimed at reducing air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. These incentives take many forms, including rebates, income tax credits, sales tax exemptions, fee exemptions, and non-monetary incentives such as access to carpool lanes.

Research from the Luskin Center for Innovation has influenced the design and implementation of clean vehicle policies and programs. For example, the California Air Resources Board recently updated its clean vehicle rebate program to increase and make electric vehicles more accessible to low- and moderate-income Californians. These policy changes were supported by research from our experts and their collaborators.

CURRENT PROJECT(S)

Climate Action - Community-driven eLectric vEhicle chArging solutioN (CA-CLEAN)

Researcher(s): Yifang Zhu, Greg Pierce, Rachel Connolly, and partners from Redeemer Community Partnership, Coalition for a Safe Environment, and Pacoima Beautiful
Funder: UC Office of the President

We are partnering with three communities across the City of Los Angeles (communities in South LA, Wilmington/surrounding areas, and Pacoima/surrounding areas) to improve procedural equity for electric vehicle adoption and charging station siting decisions in disadvantaged communities. We are conducting a three-workshop series in each community, aiming to elicit community perspectives and priorities with respect to public charging station deployment, and ultimately co-design a public charging station siting framework that maximizes community benefits. This project is part of a larger effort that is a partnership with several other UCLA research teams and California State University, Northridge.

Learn more

PUBLISHED RESEARCH

Author(s): Rachel Connolly, Greg Pierce, and Viviana Morales

This study examined procedural equity in the Clean Vehicle Assistance Program (CVAP) and the Access Clean California (ACC) program through interviews with agency staff, program administrators, community partners, and program participants. The researchers conclude that CVAP fell short in several ways, and the ACC program has not fully simplified incentive access. They recommend improved transparency in program reporting, regular third-party equity evaluations, strategic development of a truly equitable financing program, and refined funding allocation and administration to enhance equity outcomes.

Read the report

Author(s): Rachel Connolly, Greg Pierce, and Viviana Morales

This brief summarizes the findings of a study that examined procedural equity in the Clean Vehicle Assistance Program (CVAP) and the Access Clean California (ACC) program through interviews with agency staff, program administrators, community partners, and program participants. The researchers conclude that CVAP fell short in several ways, and the ACC program has not fully simplified incentive access. They recommend improved transparency in program reporting, regular third-party equity evaluations, strategic development of a truly equitable financing program, and refined funding allocation and administration to enhance equity outcomes.

Read the brief

This report identifies inequitable patterns in both EV incentive distribution and registration in LA City and County.

Author(s): Gregory Pierce, Rachel Connolly, Daniel Coffee, and Lauren Dunlap

This report identifies inequitable patterns in both EV incentive distribution and registration in LA City and County. The authors include four case examples that illustrate the extreme EV access and realization disparities in underserved neighborhoods in LA, and thus the need for more targeted local, regional, and statewide assistance to get closer to an equitable transition to clean transportation and energy.

Read the report

Is California achieving an equitable clean vehicle transition?

Researcher(s): Rachel Connolly, Daniel Coffee, and Gregory Pierce
Funder: Southern California Edison

This report examines the distributional impacts of six of California’s light-duty clean vehicle incentive programs, especially for equity. The authors find that only about $314 million of more than $1.9 billion allocated went to households in disadvantaged communities. The researchers’ policy recommendations include: 1) allocate more funding for equity-focused clean vehicle programs, 2) be creative in maximizing used vehicle inventory, and 3) focus more on delivering rather than advertising the benefits of one-stop shops for incentive access.

Read more | Read the report

Researcher(s): Dan Coffee, Aditya Voleti, Joshua Segui, Allison Yang, J.R. DeShazo, and Weilong (David) Kong

This technical report reviews the underlying analysis, data, and economic input/output modeling that supported our conclusions in the 2021 report Driving California’s Transportation Emissions to Zero. The researchers find that transportation decarbonization and the widespread adoption of zero-emission vehicles will spur the creation of new multi-billion dollar industries, resulting in tens of billions of dollars in annual consumer savings, and creating hundreds of thousands of full-time-equivalent jobs, while also driving significant contractions in some industries focused on servicing fossil fuel-burning vehicles.

Read the report

Author(s): J.R. DeShazo and James Di Filippo

This report presents a policy agenda to place equity at the center of California’s transportation decarbonization efforts. Highlighting challenges and opportunities amid California’s push to cut carbon emissions and local air pollution, the study underscores the fact that low-income communities hit hardest by pollution have been largely left behind in the transition to cleaner transportation. The report provides recommendations to bring an equity focus to clean transportation policy.

Read the report

Researcher(s): Daniel Coffee, JR DeShazo, Joshua Segui, Aditya Voleti, Allison Yang

Led by the Institute of Transportation Studies, this study focuses on strategies to transition California’s transportation system to a carbon-neutral basis by 2045. The researchers identify scenarios, assumptions, and related strategies, tools, options, trade offs, and benefits for areas where action can be taken now, as well as where additional actions are needed in the future.

Read the report

Author(s): Gregory Pierce, Britta McOmber and J.R. DeShazo

This report, based on a Luskin Center for Innovation survey of 1,604 low- and moderate-income households, assesses current policies and informs future strategies intended to improve clean vehicle access and use by low- and moderate-income households in California. The results help identify effective policy approaches to improve access to, and adoption of, clean vehicles.

Read the report

The Tune In & Tune Up Smog Repair Program in the San Joaquin Valley

Author(s): Gregory Pierce and Rachel Connolly

This report examines the performance of the Tune In & Tune Up (TI&TU) smog repair program, which has taken a community organizing approach to improving regional air quality by targeting for repair high-emitting light-duty vehicles in state-designated disadvantaged communities. The assessment is informing a new grassroots outreach program bringing clean vehicle, clean energy, and financial assistance programs to low-income households in Los Angeles County.

Read the report

Lessons Learned from the San Joaquin Valley and South Coast Air Districts’ First Year of Operation

Author(s): Gregory Pierce and J.R. DeShazo

This report describes lessons learned from the first year of the Enhanced Fleet Modernization Program Plus-Up pilot’s implementation in the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District and South Coast Air Quality Management District. The analysis supported a geographic expansion of this program, now called Clean Cars 4 All.

Read the report

Author(s): Tamara L. Sheldon, J.R. DeShazo, Richard T. Carson and Samuel Krumholz
Funder: Funded in part by the California Air Resources Board

This report is an overview of the growth of California’s plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) market and describes key trends in the adoption of PEVs. It identifies the consumer, public policy and market factors, such as gasoline prices, correlated with the sales of new PEVs.

Read the report

Challenges and Opportunities

Author(s): J.R. DeShazo

This article evaluates the effectiveness of current clean vehicle incentive policies in the U.S. and makes recommendations for improvement. See the previous report “Design and Implementation of the Enhanced Fleet Modernization Plus-Up Program.”

Read the article

Lessons from California’s Plug-in Electric Vehicle Rebate Program

Author(s): Tamara Sheldon, J.R. DeShazo, and Richard Carson

The researchers assessed the performance of alternative rebate designs for plug-in EVs and compared these alternatives in terms of cost-effectiveness and equity. The findings helped inform the adoption of California’s progressive rebate system in which low- and moderate-income drivers receive an additional $3,000 to $6,500 in financial incentives to purchase a clean vehicle, and limit program eligibility to households with less than $500,000 in annual income.

Read the paper

A generalized propensity score approach

Author(s): Tamara L. Sheldon and J.R. DeShazo

This study offers the first causal evaluation of carpool lanes (HOV) that accommodates geographic variability in the magnitude of its treatment effect. The researchers find that roughly one quarter of California PEV purchases during 2010-2013 resulted from HOV lane access policy. The research is shaping the current legislative conversation about how to best extend HOV access in the future.

Read the paper