California agencies recently delivered a report to Governor Gavin Newsom with recommendations to expand zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) adoption across the state. The California Air Resources Board (CARB), California Energy Commission (CEC), Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz), California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA), and Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) engaged stakeholders across the state, in response to Executive Order N-27-25, to identify priority actions that will accelerate ZEV progress.
The report notes that as more drivers adopt clean vehicles, it will be important to ensure consumer confidence through updated protections. These would include measures to safeguard buyers and lessees of ZEVs, ensuring that vehicles and fueling infrastructure are reliable, affordable, and meet performance expectations.
The agencies identified a combination of voluntary, regulatory, and programmatic approaches across six priority areas, highlighting both systemic challenges and actionable solutions:
- Private Investment: Sustaining the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) is seen as vital to maintain investment momentum in the ZEV market.
- Incentives: The report proposes bolstering ZEV affordability by backfilling federal tax credits and providing incentive and rebate programs, particularly for low-income consumers and small businesses, “contingent upon the availability of resources.”
- Infrastructure: Emphasis is placed on increasing the reliability of EV charging and hydrogen fueling, streamlining permitting, and continuing support for infrastructure deployment along major corridors.
- Fuel Pricing: Strategies include reducing EV charging costs through tools like the California Climate Credit, expanding regional power markets, and continuing to improve vehicle-grid integration systems.
- Regulations: The report calls for new regulations focused on consumer protection measures for ZEVs and the introduction of a statewide indirect source rule to reduce emissions in high-impact freight zones.
- Procurement: State agencies are urged to adopt ZEV-first and cooperative purchasing policies and update funding guidelines to support electrification of local government fleets.
The report calls for the development of a statewide ISR, with CARB and local air districts collaborating to “establish a statewide reporting program to quantify emissions from warehouses, ports, rail yards, airports, and other indirect sources of emissions.” By targeting pollution generated by freight movement and related operations, the ISR would expand on existing local efforts and provide consistent requirements across California. This approach would prioritize reducing emissions in high-impact communities already facing disproportionate air quality challenges. The agencies note that this action may require direction from the legislature to clarify agency authority.
CARB and its partner agencies developed the recommendations after holding public workshops in Fresno, Sacramento, and Long Beach, as well as an online session. More than 1,000 Californians participated, and nearly 200 written comments were submitted, many of them urging stronger action to address the public health burdens from transportation emissions.
In its press release, CARB described the report as a way to chart “a path to expand clean and ZEV adoption across all vehicle types, protect public health, and maintain the state’s momentum in the face of federal rollbacks.”
