Suggested Citation:
Ramji, Aditya and Lewis Fulton (2024)

Brief: Sustainable Incentives for Accelerating the Zero Emission Vehicle Transition

. Institute of Transportation Studies, University of California, Davis, Brief UCD-ITS-RR-24-56

Abstract:

Effective policy tools are urgently needed to enable the United States to keep pace with international climate goals. “Feebates”—fees applied to the purchase of vehicles with higher emissions and rebates for clean ones—have become an effective and increasingly common strategy for shaping vehicle markets in European countries. A holistic policy framework that will accelerate the transition to zero emission vehicles (ZEVs) in the US will likely include strong federal policies such as sales mandates, purchase fees for higher emission vehicles, and purchase incentives for ZEVs. Researchers from the University of California, Davis examined what makes a feebate policy work and how this strategy can be leveraged to shift US vehicle markets. The research included a review and analysis of feebate mechanisms in European countries. This policy brief summarizes research findings and provides policy implications.

Note:

This policy brief is drawn from “Sustainable EV Market Incentives: Lessons Learned from European Feebates for a Zero Emission Future” and “Sustainable EV Market Incentives: Equitable Revenue-Neutral Incentives for Zero-emission Vehicles in the United States,” white papers from the National Center for Sustainable Transportation, authored by Aditya Ramji, Lewis Fulton, and Daniel Sperling of the University of California, Davis. 

The papers can be found on the NCST website at https://ncst.ucdavis.edu/project/evaluating-revenue-neutral-incentive-systems-zero-emission-ldvs.