Taking Charge: Establishing California Leadership in the Plug-In Electric Vehicle Marketplace

This report looks at the potential for California to become a leader in the field of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs). The focus is on facilitating PEV market growth in California so that, as the industry develops, it contributes to California's economic, energy, and environmental policy goals and solidifies California as a technological, manufacturing, economic, and policy leader that will both benefit from, and shape, the global PEV market. The report lays out six goals that California should reach through 2020 in order for it to be a leader in the PEV field: (1) ensure that consumers have positive experiences with PEVs; (2) ensure that the cost of PEV ownership is competitive with conventional vehicles; (3) ensure that PEV charging is integrated smoothly into the electricity grid; (4) establish the PEV market in a way to ensure that it promotes energy security, air quality, climate change, and public health goals; (5) take early, strategic action to ensure the PEV industry helps to create jobs and benefit California economically; and (6) ensure that the PEV market moves beyond early adopters and towards mainstream consumers.