UC Berkeley Transportation Sustainability Research Center

Heavy-duty transportation modes including trucks, buses, and seaport and airport equipment are relatively hard to decarbonize because of their demanding performance requirements and other factors. The California Scoping Plan for Achieving Carbon Neutrality calls for carbon-neutral transportation across all modes by 2045, with different sectors reaching 100% zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) sales by earlier dates, depending on the type of vehicle (see EO N-79-20). For public transit buses, the state’s Innovative Clean Transit rule requires both large and small transit agencies to cease purchasing combustion engine buses in 2029 in favor of zero-emission (ZE) technologies, with a phased approach that has already commenced. However, for trucks, achieving the transition to ZEVs is more problematic as the state’s Advanced Clean Fleets rule is only applicable to government fleets at present, and the Clean Truck Partnership memorandum of understanding with truck manufacturers is effectively on hold pending legal actions.

California utilities and policymakers must ensure that the distribution grid is prepared for this new load, while maintaining reliable electricity service and keeping costs low for ratepayers. As the EV market evolves, the distribution grid must rapidly grow into a smarter, more flexible, and more agile system. With well-designed charging programs and new technologies, additional EV charging capacity holds the promise of creating downward pressure on electricity rates. Advances in technology can support this promise through greater vehicle-to-grid integration (VGI) (i.e., strategies for altering EV charging time, power level, or location of charging (or discharging) to benefit the grid), managed charging programs, and other tools to further merge EVs into California’s grid. VGI turns EVs into interactive grid resources, enabling not only new methods to manage consumer demand but also bi-directional charging (known as vehicle-to-grid (V2G)) that can enhance grid flexibility and reliability. Investing now to modernize the grid and adopting new demand management programs can pay dividends in the future, supporting California’s ambitious EV deployment goals while keeping electricityrates affordable.

The CA-LCA-H2 tool performs a cost and greenhouse gas and criteria air pollutant emissions assessment for a hydrogen project in California by selecting the operating region and mode of production and distribution of the hydrogen through to a fuel cell trucking use case. The cost of clean hydrogen production can change significantly from the choice of production method due to the respective energy and capital costs, and in the case of electrolysis, the electricity source. The regional variations in the electricity mix can significantly affect the carbon intensity of the hydrogen produced. These components then contribute to the potential effectiveness of hydrogen as a low-carbon fuel for the use case assessment.

California has ambitious goals to introduce zero-emission technologies across various transportation sectors. Significant progress has been made over the past decades in deploying battery electric light-duty trucks, but heavy-duty diesel trucks are harder to “decarbonize” due to their operational demands and duty cycles, even though the benefits of replacing heavily polluting diesel trucks are significant. Front line communities where diesel vehicles operate the most, especially those near seaports and warehouses, bear the brunt of the pollution from these vehicles and stand to benefit the most from their electrification. Hydrogen fuel cell technology represents a promising approach for transitioning these trucks to zero-emission but the costs and benefits over time must be carefully considered.

The Mobility 10x Summit convened more than 200 leaders from state agencies, regional governments, academia, and industry to accelerate California’s transition toward a more resilient, equitable, and sustainable transportation system. As the capstone event of the Resilient and Innovative Mobility Initiative (RIMI)—a four‐year UC ITS research effort launched in 2021—the summit synthesized extensive research and practitioner insights across ten priority transportation topics, ranging from public transit to automation and carbon-neutraltransportation to equity, safety, and resilience.Across the opening and closing plenary discussions and nine breakout sessions, participants examined the structural challenges facing California’s transportation system: declining gas tax revenues, climate‐driven infrastructure damage, uneven public transit ridership recovery, inequitable access to mobility options, and rapid technological change. These challenges are converging at a moment when California must simultaneously meet ambitious climate goals, modernize its transportation funding model, and ensure that mobility systems work for all communities.

California state agencies, public transit agencies, and cities have invested in dozens of microtransit pilot programs, often with the stated goals of improving access, filling gaps in fixed-route public transit service, and serving communities that are difficult to reach by traditional bus or rail. As microtransit services mature, agencies increasingly face decisions about whether to expand, modify, or discontinue microtransit services—and how to allocate scarce operating funds across competing transit priorities.Despite growing investment, there is no consistent approach to measuring whether microtransit services are delivering meaningful benefits relative to their costs, or whether those benefits are equitably distributed. Without clear and well-balanced performance metrics, agencies risk drawing the wrong conclusions about success or failure.

This report develops a transportation hydrogen roadmap for California projected to 2045, building on previous UC ITS work, in part for the ARCHES hydrogen hub for trucks and ports. This study adds modes such as airports, aircraft, rail systems, and fuel-cell light-duty vehicles. Based on a scenario of high adoption of hydrogen-fueled transport, these modes and sectors would use 1000 tonnes/day of hydrogen by 2035 and 5000 tonnes/day by 2045. To 2035, about 40% of the expected growth occurs in heavy-duty trucking. Another 20% is used by other truck types, about 20% by light-duty vehicles, and 20% by other modes, notably shipping and aviation. These shares remain similar to 2045. Trucking remains the dominant driver of demand. Shipping, aviation, and rail are not anticipated to account for an increasing share of demand in the scenarios in this study. This hydrogen fuel system would support around 6,000 jobs per year. Hydrogen vehicle adoption will depend on strong policy support, coordination of planning and investments, and rapid scale up to reach a hydrogen system that can be self-sustaining, on the order of hundreds of tonnes per day by 2040.

Advanced air mobility, also known as AAM, is a broad concept focusing on emerging aviation markets and use cases for on-demand aviation in urban, suburban, and rural communities (Cohen et al., 2024). AAM includes local use cases of about an 80 km radius in rural or urban areas and intraregional use cases of up to approximately 500 km.

The transition toward electric vehicles (EVs) represents a pivotal shift in transportation technology, promising significant environmental benefits through reduced greenhouse gas emissions and decreased dependence on fossil fuels. However, the integration of EVs presents unique challenges and opportunities within the context of social equity. EVs have emerged as a key technology in the evolution of transportation, with their history tracing back to the late ninteenth century.

Bike lending offers a service that enables individuals to borrow bicycles for short-term use (i.e., ranging from 2 hours to 36 months), typically from designated locations within cities, campuses, or communities. Unlike bikesharing systems that typically rely on automated kiosks and/or undocked and free-floating devices for public access, bike lending involves a managed program with staff, similar to a library model. These programs can be administered by community organizations, bike shops, public libraries, and other local entities. They are typically community- or membership-based, with many programs associated with non-profit organizations or publicly owned and operated. In this paper, we investigate bike lending in the United States and Canada as of Spring 2024, including a literature review, the identification and characterization of bike lending programs (n = 55), expert interviews (n = 24), a survey of bike lending operators (n = 31), and 2 focus groups with a total of 12 participants. Insights from expert interviews and operator surveys highlight the experiences of professionals involved in bike lending. The focus groups capture the experiences of bike lending users. This paper finds that North American bike lending is often tailored to the specific needs of communities, such as youth, low-income individuals, and the general population. More sustained funding could support program expansion and diversify bike offerings. Enhancing cycling infrastructure, such as adding dedicated bike lanes and paths, could improve overall cycling safety and increase participation in bike lending programs. This study’s findings could help strengthen existing bike lending programs, guide the development of new initiatives and supportive policies, and enhance safe bicycle use for participants.