Oakland Zero Emission Vehicle Action Plan

The  City of Oakland Zero Emission Vehicle Action Plan  will provide a roadmap for equitably transitioning to a zero emission transportation system. In 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom declared that all new passenger cars and trucks sold in California must be zero-emission by 2035. The Plan will help to achieve that goal, and builds on existing goals and objectives outlined in  California’s 2016 ZEV Action Plan  and the  Bay Area’s 2013 PEV Readiness Plan . The Plan will include strategies to increase access to zero emission vehicles (ZEV), electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE), and hydrogen fueling stations for all Oakland residents and visitors.

Zero Emission Vehicles can greatly reduce air pollution and greenhouse gasses, but they are concentrated in neighborhoods with the best air quality. The Plan seeks to disrupt this inequity by ensuring that investments in clean transportation are made in communities that need them the most.

This story map highlights existing conditions related to zero emission transportation in Oakland, including pollution burden, electric vehicle ownership and charging infrastructure.

Air pollution increases risk of early death from heart attacks, strokes, diabetes and respiratory diseases. Air pollution from gasoline-powered cars and trucks includes nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulphur oxides (SOx) carbon monoxide (CO), volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10). According to the  United States Environmental Protection Agency , the transportation sector is responsible for over 55% of nitrogen oxides (NOx) in the United States. These nitrogen oxides, along with other air pollution emitted by vehicles, contribute to poor air quality and health outcomes in the communities that receive the pollution.

Air pollution emitted from transportation contributes to smog, and to poor air quality, which has negative impacts on the health and welfare of U.S. citizens. -Environmental Protection Agency

Nitrogen oxides produced by the transportation sector are highly concentrated around roadways and contribute to medical conditions such as asthma and bronchitis ( Environmental Defense Fund ).

In Oakland, communities in the flatlands of West Oakland and East Oakland have a much greater pollution burden than communities in the hills. This inequality leads to huge disparities in life expectancy; a child born in East Oakland’s Sobrante Park neighborhood is expected to live 74 years, ten years less than a child born in the north Oakland hills. Electric and hydrogen powered vehicles can help reduce air pollution. However, these vehicles are concentrated in the areas that already have better air quality. In the next section, we look at the relationship between clean vehicles and air pollution burden. In the next section, we look at the relationship between existing EVs and air pollution.

In 2020, the Oakland Department of Transportation developed a “Geographic Equity Toolbox” to advance the City’s racial equity goals by prioritizing our transportation investments. The tool helps to visualize disparities so that greater attention and funding can be provided in neighborhoods that have been historically overlooked by city services and planning processes.

The priority neighborhood layer from the Toolbox gives each census tract in Oakland a level of priority between lowest and highest, as determined by various demographic factors such as race and income. The tracts with the greater socioeconomic barriers have a higher equity priority level. For more information on the Oakland's Geographic Equity Toolbox, see  Methodology and Literature Review  or  Web Map App .

The North Oakland Hills are home to the greatest concentration of electric vehicles (EVs) in Oakland. The total number and percent of EVs gradually decreases from east to west, and is lowest near the San Francisco Bay. The North and East Oakland Hills also have the lowest equity priority level based on the Geographic Equity Toolkit. Currently, EVs are both most needed and most absent in pollution-burdened areas.

There are 256 publicly accessible charging stations in Oakland and 12 charging stations coming soon. Half of the charging stations are located in Downtown and 23% are located in North Oakland/Adams Point. Of existing chargers, there are 13 level 1 chargers, 197 level 2 chargers, and 46 DC fast chargers. See below for more information on each type of charger.

•  Zero Emission Vehicle Action Plan