Transportation & Climate

California faced a considerable budget deficit this year, but the transportation sector saw both windfalls and cuts. Winners include our roads and highways, where auto-centric investments were maintained mainly at prior budget levels.

Despite recent federal policy changes, California still has an opportunity to transition to a zero emission transportation system, and, according to our new study, doing so will save the state and its citizens about $300 billion dollars over the next 25 years. But time is of the essence–the State will need to redouble its policy efforts to achieve these benefits. Allowing the transition to be delayed by even a few years will reduce the savings by billions.

California’s gasoline prices have been a topic of intense discussion in recent months, with some prominent voices repeatedly asserting they will jump 65 cents per gallon in July, due to changes in California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS). This number has been repeatedly cited in media discussions and raised in speeches on the floor of the California Legislature.

A price hike of that magnitude would certainly be problematic for many Californians, but the key question is: How likely is it that prices will actually jump that much?

Answer: Not at all likely.

The North American automotive industry is undergoing a transformation driven by the electric vehicle (EV) transition, post-pandemic supply chain shifts, and increasing US protectionism. As the largest vehicle supplier to the US, Mexico faces both opportunities and risks in this evolving landscape. With 42% of its passenger vehicle production tied to US automakers and nearly 70% of its total output destined for the US, Mexico’s automotive industry is particularly vulnerable to the recently announced 25% tariffs on Mexican auto imports.

The global shift to electric vehicles is in high gear, but it remains uncertain whether the US will reap the benefits of being a global leader in this transition. Putting the brakes on progress now would put hundreds of billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of jobs across the US at risk, and it would allow foreign manufacturers to gain a competitive edge over the US auto industry. Scaling back deployment of electric vehicles (EVs) would also undermine efforts to limit climate change.

Note: this article was updated on Oct 1 after the Governor signed/vetoed all bills.

Widespread adoption of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) is a key strategy to help reduce emissions of greenhouse gasses and pollutants. To help implement this strategy, US federal and state agencies, utilities, and private companies are investing billions of dollars in public PEV charging infrastructure.

Graphite is carbon in its crystalline form. With its distinctive electrochemical properties, it forms anodes in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), ensuring that they have stable charge and discharge cycles. Globally, as countries rely increasingly on electric power, the demand for LIBs—and therefore graphite—will be driven by both in-vehicle batteries and stationary energy storage. As nations choose where to invest, care must be taken to ensure that negative social and environmental impacts are avoided and that geopolitical concerns are carefully managed.

Widespread adoption of electric vehicles—combined with a shift in travel modes towards more walking, cycling, and transit use—can help ease the climate crisis, improve quality of life, and save Americans money. A key to shifting travel modes to less automobile use is making biking, walking, and transit safer and more convenient by redirecting infrastructure investments and making urban areas more compact.

In an effort to curb emissions, governments in major vehicle markets are proposing and adopting requirements that electric vehicles (EVs) make up a certain percentage of new vehicle sales in coming years. This week the Government of Canada announced EV sales targets of 60% by 2030 and 100% by 2035 for light-duty vehicles, similar to the goals the United States announced last year of 50% by 2030 and 67% by 2032.