14 September 2018: In a coordinated announcement during the Global Climate Action Summit (GCAS), 26 states, cities, regions and businesses joined the ZEV Challenge, a group of initiatives to eliminate tail pipe emissions from vehicles in their respective jurisdictions and company fleets.

Announced in July 2018, the ZEV Challenge unites existing initiatives aiming to promote the adoption of zero emission vehicles (ZEVs), including: Under2 coalition and ZEV Commitment, for states; C40 Cities and Green & Health Streets, for cities; and EV100, for businesses. Members of these initiatives have committed to various programmes and action plans to reduce vehicle emissions to zero, such as companies transitioning business fleets and employee benefit cars to zero, cities implementing zero emissions zones, and cities and state governments procuring ZEVs for municipal fleets and public transport.

#ZEVChallenge calls on automakers to work towards an endgame for combustion engine vehicles.

The participating initiatives call on automakers to meet the growing demand for ZEVs and “signal their willingness to work towards an endgame for combustion engine vehicles,” including by committing to ZEV sales percentages by 2025. Helen Clarkson, CEO of the Climate Group, said that through the announcement “the biggest customers, public and business fleets, are demonstrating their demand for a huge increase in EVs over the next decade.”

During GCAS, 26 cities, states, regions and businesses announced their participation in one of the initiatives supporting the Challenge, pushing total membership to 60. The new members represent a population of 122 million people with several commitments aiming to achieve ZEV fleets by 2020 in a bid to build a basis for mass consumer uptake.

In their press release, the Climate Group and C40 Cities state that the linkages between cities, governments and the business sector will be key to boost public demand, address barriers such as range anxiety, and encourage major fleet buyers to work more closely together to reduce costs.

The GCAS convened from 12-14 September 2018 in San Francisco, US. [Climate Group, C40 Joint Press Release] [#ZEVChallenge]