ITS-Davis has analyzed the design of self-financing zero emission truck (ZET) incentive programs that could help the current underfunded Clean Truck and Bus Voucher Program (HVIP) and continue to provide certainty for fleet buyers to transition, given the recently withdrawn Advanced Clean Fleet (ACF) regulation for trucks. The revenues are generated by either imposing a one-time pollution charge on the price of new diesel truck sales or a recurring annual surcharge to annual registration fees, with the revenues used to incentivize ZET sales. For instance, if a one-time charge of 6.8% is imposed on new diesel truck sales, or an annual polluter charge was imposed on diesel trucks ranging from $290 to $820 per truck, depending on the type of truck, about $3.4 billion would be generated over 10 years. On an annual basis, this would roughly be equivalent to the average funding level of $340 million per year from 2021 to 2024 of the current HVIP incentive program. Such a program would harness market forces by sending a clear signal to truck buyers and manufacturers, and would generate revenue for incentive funds for ZETs, with no cost to government or taxpayers. The charges would be administratively straightforward to collect. As a one-time charge, it could be collected at the time of vehicle purchase. Alternatively, as an annual charge, it could be assessed as part of the annual registration and renewal fee, known as the Commercial Vehicle Registration (CVRA) fee.
The historical impacts of transportation planning and investment have adversely impacted communities of color and low-income communities. In response, state departments of transportation, metropolitan planning organizations, and local and county governments have begun to address these injustices through plans, policies, and deeper engagement with communities, though work in this area is still nascent. There are a variety of data, tools, and metrics from research and practice that measure the distributional equity of transportation planning and projects to inform equitable solutions.
Battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) are central to California’s strategy to reduce transportation-related emissions; however, low-income households face significant structural barriers to adoption. These barriers include the high upfront purchase costs of new BEVs, limited supply of used BEVs, limited access to home charging, and low awareness of BEVs. To better understand these obstacles and identify effective policy responses, our research team analyzed survey data collected from 2,051 priority population households throughout California between December 2023 and June 2024. The survey asked households about their vehicle purchasing behavior, ownership costs, and socio-demographics.
This project reviews and summarizes empirical evidence for a selection of transportation and land usepolicies, infrastructure investments, demand management programs, and pricing policies for reducingvehicle miles traveled (VMT) and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The project explicitly considers socialequity (fairness that accounts for differences in opportunity) and justice (equity of social systems) forthe strategies and their outcomes. Each brief identifies the best available evidence in the peer-reviewedacademic literature and has detailed discussions of study selection and methodological issues.
VMT and GHG emissions reduction is shown by effect size, defined as the amount of change in VMT (orother measures of travel behavior) per unit of the strategy, e.g., a unit increase in density. Effect sizescan be used to predict the outcome of a proposed policy or strategy. They can be in absolute terms (e.g.,VMT reduced), but are more commonly in relative terms (e.g., percent VMT reduced). Relative effectsizes are often reported as the percent change in the outcome divided by the percent change in thestrategy, also called an elasticity.
This project reviews and summarizes empirical evidence for a selection of transportation and land use policies, infrastructure investments, demand management programs, and pricing policies for reducing vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The project explicitly considers social equity (fairness that accounts for differences in opportunity) and justice (equity of social systems) for the strategies and their outcomes. Each brief identifies the best available evidence in the peer-reviewed academic literature and has detailed discussions of study selection and methodological issues.
VMT and GHG emissions reduction is shown by effect size, defined as the amount of change in VMT (or other measures of travel behavior) per unit of the strategy, e.g., a unit increase in density. Effect sizes can be used to predict the outcome of a proposed policy or strategy. They can be in absolute terms (e.g., VMT reduced), but are more commonly in relative terms (e.g., percent VMT reduced). Relative effect sizes are often reported as the percent change in the outcome divided by the percent change in the strategy, also called an elasticity.
