Transportation

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2025
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Transportation

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2025
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Transportation

Transportation

Transportation, California’s largest energy-consuming and greenhouse-gas-emitting sector, accounted for 38.1% of the state’s total GHG emissions in 2023, a decrease of 4.6% compared to 2022 and the largest decrease of any sector. Most of the decrease in emissions from this sector have been driven by reductions from the heavy-duty vehicles subsector, in which emissions fell by 17.2% from 2022 and by 27.1% from 2021, due to an increasing share of biodiesel being used instead of petroleum diesel. Meanwhile, emissions from passenger vehicles fell by only 0.6% and public transit ridership remained 23.2% lower in 2024 than pre-pandemic levels.

California’s ZEV sales fell to 21.6% of new vehicle sales in Q2 2025 after accounting for roughly a quarter of all new vehicle sales for most of 2024, and provisions in the federal H.R. 1, passed in July, may make it more difficult for the state to meet its future ZEV goals. The tax credit of up to $7,500 per new EV and up to $4,000 per used EV, passed as part of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022, was eliminated beginning October 1, 2025.²⁵ This caused a temporary spike in EV sales across the country, with a record high 29.1% of all vehicles sold in California from July through September being ZEVs.²⁶ Now that the credit has been eliminated, research groups have estimated that the end of the tax credits will reduce EV sales by 16% to 38% compared to how sales might have grown if it had been left in place.

Similarly, H.R. 1 also eliminates a tax credit intended to boost EV charger installations on private property in rural or underserved communities.²⁷ The Alternative Fuel Refueling Property Credit, which provides a 30% credit (capped at $1,000) for home EV chargers, expires beginning on July 1, 2026. The credit also covers the installation costs, electrical panel upgrades, and wiring necessary to support home charging, and the typical Level 2 charger installation costs between $2,000 and $3,000.²⁸

Transportation Emissions and Vehicle Ownership

GHG emissions from surface transportation decreased by 4.1% (or 5.3 MMTCO2e) from 2022 to 2023 despite rising VMT. The surprising drop in emissions came primarily from the heavy-duty vehicles subsector, where emissions declined by 17.2%.
GHG emissions from surface transportation per capita decreased by 4.5% during the same period.
In 2023, VMT in California totaled 316.6 billion miles, up 0.4% (or 1.4 billion miles) from 2022, but 9.2% below the 343.9 billion miles recorded in 2018.
In 2023, emissions per VMT averaged 0.39 tons of CO2-equivalent per 1,000 vehicle miles traveled. Not only is this ratio the lowest it has ever been, but it is also 8% less than the 2015 to 2019 average.
From 2022 to 2023, VMT per registered vehicle increased by 0.3% (30 miles) to 10,160 miles.
The vehicle ownership rate (excluding ZEVs) continues to drop precipitously, reaching a new low of 69.5% in 2024.²⁹
For the first time, the number of ZEVs registered (1,899,831) exceeded the number of hybrid vehicles registered (1,758,070) in 2024.

In 2024, the share of new registrations from light-duty pickup trucks, mini-vans, and SUVs reached a new height, breaking 70% for the first time, making up 72.7% of new light duty vehicle registrations—up from 69.4% in 2023.
In 2024, total light truck registrations increased from 1.22 million vehicles to 1.23 million vehicles (+4.4%) while car sales dropped 10.9% from 539,900 to 480,900—less than half a million for the first time.
Together, new BEV and PHEV registrations totaled a quarter (25.5%) of new vehicle registrations in 2024.
At current trajectory, California is not on track to meet its immediate interim Advanced Clean Cars II (ACCII) goals of new ZEV sales at 35% for model year 2026.
In 2024, new battery electric vehicle (BEV) registrations totaled about 387,000 vehicles, a mere 1.2% growth from the 383,000 new vehicles registered the previous year.
Californians registered slightly over 60,000 new PHEVs, the highest figure since 2018 (64,600 vehicles) and the highest market share thus far (3.5% of new registrations in 2024).

Data

Zero-Emission Vehicles

The number of ZEVs on-road in California totaled just under 1.9 million in 2024, a 25.3% increase from 2023.
To reach the 2030 goal of 5 million ZEVs on-road, ZEV registrations in California need to increase by an annual average of 17.5% from 2025 to 2030, revised downwards from the 18.6% required previously between 2024 to 2030.
In 2024, 6.5% of registered vehicles on the road were ZEVs, up 5.2% from 2023.
The number of electric light-duty pickups, SUVs and vans registered in 2024 reached an all-time high of 965,000, up 48% from 2023.
Although electric medium- and heavy-duty vehicles (MHDVs) make up only a small sliver of all ZEV registration, registrations totaled 5,857 vehicles in 2024, up 55% from the 3,784 registrations in 2023.
California’s EV charging network grew 70% from 2023 to 2024, with almost 180,000 chargers by February 2025.

The Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim area led the state with a 116% growth in Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) from 2020-2025.
From December 2023 to February 2025, the number of DC fast chargers and level 2 chargers grew 44 and 73%, respectively.
EVSE chargers are being deployed most rapidly in metro areas with below average ZEV adoption rates--El Centro (+198%), Santa Maria-Santa Barbara (+103%), and Chico (+101%).
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara leads the state with ZEVs accounting for 11.8% of registered vehicles followed by San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward with 10.0%.
Statewide, ZEVs as a percentage of total vehicles registered stood at 6.5% in 2024, with every MSA having finally surpassed the one percent threshold.

Data

Clean Transportation’s Future

As of June 14, 2025, there were 62,247 public Level 1, Level 2, and DC fast-charging ports in California.³⁰ This amounts to just one-fourth of the 250,000 public and DC fast charging (DCFC) shared chargers target by 2025.³¹
In December 2024, the California Energy Commission (CEC) approved $1.4 billion as part of the 2024-2025 Investment Plan, to build out nearly 17,000 new light-duty chargers statewide.³²
Motor vehicle fuel production of gasoline (-14.1%) and diesel (-40.8%) continued to trend below 2019 levels in 2024.³³

Unlinked passenger trips (UPTs, which represent the number of times passengers board public transportation vehicles), remained 23.2% lower in 2024 than the pre-pandemic level in 2019. However, the number of UPTs increased by 9% from 2023 to 2024 as the LA Metro, SF Muni, and Bay Area CalTrain saw increases in ridership in 2024.^34,35,36
After a brief rebound from 2020 to 2021, fuel production resumed its pre-pandemic declining trends. Compared to 2023, production of gasoline (-5.9%) and diesel (-16.0%) totaled 403.9 million barrels, down 35.3 million barrels or 8.0% relative to 2023.

Data

Footnotes

²⁵ “Inflation Reduction Act & EVs.” Electrification Coalition. 2025 Update. Available at: https://electrificationcoalition.org/work/federal-ev-policy/inflation-reduction-act/

²⁶ “California sets EV sales record in Q3 2025 ahead of tax credit expiry.” EV Infrastructure News. October 15, 2025. Available at: https://www.evinfrastructurenews.com/ev-networks/california-sets-ev-sales-record-in-q3-2025-ahead-of-tax-credit-expiry

²⁷ “EV and Charging Tax Credits After the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” Electrification Coalition. July 17, 2025. Available at: https://electrificationcoalition.org/resource/ev-and-charging-tax-credits-after-the-one-big-beautiful-bill-act/

²⁸ “The clean energy clock is ticking: What we’ll lose when key tax credits expire this year.” Energy Sage. July 17, 2025. Available at: https://www.energysage.com/news/hr1-ending-clean-energy-tax-credits/

²⁹ ZEVs are defined as battery electric vehicles (BEVs), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs).

³⁰ An EV charging port provides power to charge only one vehicle at a time even though it may have multiple connectors. A connector is what is plugged into a vehicle to charge it. Multiple connectors and connector types (such as CHAdeMO and CCS) can be available on one EV charging port, but only one vehicle will charge at a time. Connectors are sometimes called plugs.

³¹ The 250,000 target was established by Executive Order B-48-18 in 2018. California Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz). “Electric Vehicle Charging Station Permitting Guidebook.” 2nd ed. January, 2023. Accessed July 9, 2025. Available at: https://business.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/GoBIZ-EVCharging-Guidebook.pdf

³² California Energy Commission (CEC). CEC $1.4 Billion Plan to Expand Zero-Emission Transportation Infrastructure. December 11, 2025. Available at: https://www.energy.ca.gov/news/2024-12/cec-approves-14-billion-plan-expand-zero-emission-transportation-infrastructure

³³ The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Motor Fuel & Highway Trust Fund stopped publishing data after July 2023. As a result, motor vehicle fuel consumption data has been replaced by California Energy Commission’s Petroleum Industry Information Reporting Act (PIIRA) database.

³⁴ LA Metro. LA Metro’s 2024 Ridership Soars to More Than 311 Million Marking Significant Growth. February 21,2 2025. https://www.metro.net/about/la-metros-2024-ridership-soars-to-more-than-311-million-marking-significant-growth/

³⁵ City of San Francisco. San Francisco’s Muni Hits 75% in Ridership Recovery, Making Significant Milestone in the City’s Recovery. March 31, 2025. https://www.sf.gov/news-san-franciscos-muni-hits-75-in-ridership-recovery-making-significant-milestone-in-the-citys-recovery

³⁶ Governor of California. Ridership for this critical train line is surging thanks to California’s investments in rail. April 9, 2025. https://www.gov.ca.gov/2025/04/09/ridership-for-this-critical-train-line-is-surging-thanks-to-californias-investments-in-rail/