Highlight
- On-road light-duty vehicles (passenger cars, light-duty trucks & SUVs, and motorcycles) accounted for most of the transportation sector’s emissions with 92.9 MMTCO2e altogether in 2020. Following this drop (-19.1%), this subsector represents 25.2 percent of the state’s total emissions, and 66.5 percent of the transportation sector’s total emissions in 2020, up from 2019’s 69.1 percent. This is due to on-road emissions from heavy-duty trucks continuously falling faster (-7.4%). Thanks to increases in fuel economy, as well as zero-emission vehicles becoming more mainstream, GHG emissions per unit of fuel consumed are decreasing. The amount of transportation fuel consumed in 2020 (323.52 million gasoline-gallon equivalent) was at the lowest since 2000, while GHG emissions in 2020 were 42.0 percent lower compared to 2000.29
29 This year, the Transportation Fuel Consumption data source has changed to EIA, since the previous year’s data source (Alternative Fuel Data Center from DOE) was discontinued.
Opportunity
- The federal government is now aligned with California’s goals in electrifying the transportation sector. First, in September 2020, Governor Newsom signed Executive Order N-79-20, which sets the goal of 100 percent of in-state sales of new passenger cars and trucks to be zero-emission by 2035.30 Furthermore, in August 2022, the California Air Resources Board proposed new regulations requiring 100 percent of in-state sales of new passenger cars and trucks be zero-emission by 2035, with 35 percent by 2025 and 70 percent by 2030.31 At the federal level, and beyond the IRA, the Biden administration proposed new standards for EV chargers in June 2022 in order to provide guidance for states when building charging station projects that are accessible to all drivers regardless of the location, EV brand, or charging company.32 In July 2022, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced a proposal to require states to set new targets for reducing tailpipe emissions on the national highway system, and the states would be required to report their progress on meeting these targets.33
30 Specifically, the Executive Order has the following additional goals: (1) 100 percent of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles in the state be zero-emission by 2045 for all operations where feasible and by 2035 for drayage trucks; (2) California to transition to 100 percent zero-emission off-road vehicles and equipment by 2035 where feasible. Executive Order N-79-20 can be viewed here: https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/9.23.20-EO-N-79-20-Climate.pdf
31 California Moves to Accelerate to 100% New Zero-Emission Vehicle Sales by 2035. California Air Resources Board. Aug. 25, 2022. https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/news/california-moves-accelerate-100-new-zero-emission-vehicle-sales-2035
32 FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Proposes New Standards for National Electric Vehicle Charging Network. The White House. June 9, 2022. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/06/09/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-proposes-new-standards-for-national-electric-vehicle-charging-network/
33 Shepardson, David. Biden Administration Proposes Requiring States to Set Tailpipe Emissions Targets. Reuters. July 7, 2022. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-administration-propose-requiring-states-set-tailpipe-emissions-targets-2022-07-07/
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