Exploratory Estimation of Greenhouse-Gas Emission Reductions from California’s Clean Vehicle Rebate Project

Presentation given at the Transportation Resources Board’s 98th Annual Meeting in Washington D.C. (January 16, 2019) that described a preliminary but more detailed picture the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project’s greenhouse-gas impacts. The analysis utilized project-specific data to through August 2018 (N=257,401 participants). Reductions attributable to rebated plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and battery electric vehicles (BEVs) over the first year of vehicle ownership were estimated to be approximately 713 thousand metric tons of CO2-equivalent, or an average of 2.58 tons per PHEV and 2.90 tons per BEV. Findings indicate that use of project-derived data can significantly enhance characterizations of the impact of incentive programs.