Transportation & Climate

To design the best electric vehicle policies—affecting their sale, manufacturing, and charging—we need to know whether electric vehicles can function as replacements for gasoline vehicles. Addressing this question is controversial and important. Bringing clarity is critical because some interest groups opposed to electric vehicles state that less usage indicates that electric vehicles are an inferior substitute for gasoline cars, and thus not deserving of government support.

Here’s a major policy success of 2020 that probably slipped by most people in the United States: Korea, the sixth-largest producer of automobiles and home to the third-largest automotive group in the world (Hyundai-Kia), successfully implemented its own zero emissions vehicle (ZEV) sales regulation—with help from ITS-Davis researchers.

With more states and individuals observing stricter limits on in-person shopping, and with holidays coming, what can we do to limit the environmental and societal impact of online shopping? And even beyond this moment, how do we minimize the harm—or maximize the benefit—of online shopping to society and life on our planet?

The short answer: Buy what we need, and do what we can to allow packages to be consolidated for the most efficient delivery routes, so the fewest miles possible are traveled for each package brought to the door.

Is net zero-carbon energy really attainable for the entire US? If so, when? A major new study of deep decarbonization of the US economy, entitled the Zero Carbon Action Plan, was published October 27. It was conducted by senior academics and other thought leaders, working under the auspices of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, an initiative of the United Nations.

California recently announced plans to electrify nearly all new cars and trucks by 2035. Is this possible? If so, how?

It’s not just the wind at their back. That bicyclist you saw with a comfortable cadence flying down the road is a part of a new transport trend that’s good for rider health and the environment—the electric assisted bicycle, or e-bike. However, barriers and inequities in e-biking signal a need for new policies to promote bicycling in US cities and make bicycling safe and accessible for all people.

Last week, community members took to the streets yet again to protest two fatal shootings of Black people at the hands of the police, one of which occurred right here in California. On August 31, 2020, Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies shot and killed Dijon Kizzee in South Los Angeles. The details of the incident are still emerging as of this writing, but the encounter began as deputies tried to stop Kizzee for an unspecified vehicle code violation as he was riding his bike.

Mobility has changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. With social distancing and people working from home, travel has decreased significantly. However, as the economy has started to reopen, single-occupant car travel and bicycling have increased, while the use of public transit, ride-hailing, carpools, and shared e-scooters remains low.

In most cities in the United States, streets are for cars, not for people, but that may be changing. In California, Sacramento’s R Street restaurant strip is open for business, but closed to vehicle traffic to allow for more room to breathe for outdoor diners.

UPDATED: September 4, 2020

A few weeks ago, in this blog, I wrote about the sense of freedom that bicycling evokes as one of the reasons why bicycling has grown in popularity since the COVID pandemic. But bicycling does not equate to freedom for everyone, as events in Los Angeles tragically brought home this week.