Why is this a Climate Smart indicator? 

• Transportation creates almost half of our city's greenhouse gas emissions. If more of the vehicles on the road were electric, this would reduce our emissions. It would also reduce air and stormwater pollution.  

• Fully electric vehicles (also known as Battery Electric Vehicles, or BEVs) require little maintenance, saving money and time. In addition, both fully electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids save money on fuel costs. 

• One of our Bold Goals is for 60 percent of all passenger vehicles in the city to be electric by 2030, making us the electric car capital of the U.S. 

• The Advanced Clean Cars II regulations, approved by the California Air Resources Board in November 2022, require all new passenger cars and trucks sold in the state to be 100% zero-emission by 2035. Zero-emission vehicles include BEVs, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, and fuel-cell electric vehicles.

What is the City doing to make progress on this indicator? 

Completed 

• Reach code including EV charging infrastructure requirements (adopted 9/17/19) 

• Electric Mobility Roadmap (accepted by City Council 1/14/20) 

• Drive Electric EV discount program (2020) 

• Drive Forward program offering financial counseling and EV education (2020) 

• Dealer education program (2020) 

• EV ride and drive (2021) 

• Emerging Mobility Action Plan (adopted 4/5/22) 

• San José Clean Energy Electric Vehicles webpage with information on rebates, incentives, EV electric rates, and more 

• Green Fleet Policy (2007) and Vehicle Replacement Policy (2021) for City vehicles 

• Move San José, a citywide Access and Mobility Plan that includes strategies to make it easier for people to use and purchase electric vehicles and for the city to meet air quality goals (adopted 8/9/22) 

In Progress/Ongoing 

• Implement Emerging Mobility Action Plan 

• Provide funding for new EV chargers through the California Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Project (CALeVIP; partnership between San José Clean Energy and California Energy Commission) 

• Climate Smart Challenge and GoGreen Teams programs for San José residents, which encourage switching to electric vehicles 

• Electric mobility educational events (sponsored by the City and by area non-profits with City as partner) to provide information and allow more residents to experience a variety of electric vehicles and devices

• Planning and engagement efforts to introduce EV infrastructure and EV services in low-income communities, such as EV charging/fast charging hubs, shared EVs, and community shopping tools

• Seek funding to introduce more city-owned EV infrastructure to meet the city’s fleet electrification needs and develop solutions for energy resiliency like microgrids and managed EV charging

About the data 

Sources  

California Energy Commission Light-Duty Zero Emissions Vehicle dashboard. Data are presented for vehicles registered in ZIP codes that lie entirely within San José’s city boundary. Each year’s dataset includes all vehicles that were registered as of December 31st of that year. 

Limitations 

Due to the complex nature of San José’s incorporated boundary and overlapping ZIP codes with other cities, it is not possible to exactly count vehicles in the City of San José using ZIP code data.