2025 Focus Areas

The ZEV transition is progressing quickly and has reached the mainstream market in many ZEV Alliance jurisdictions. At this stage, challenges related to affordability and universal access to charging infrastructure take on renewed importance. At the same time, it is increasingly important to maximize the climate and environmental benefits of ZEVs to address the urgency of the climate crisis. 

Making charging more user-friendly

Public charging has grown rapidly alongside electric vehicle sales, but chargers are often unreliable and unintuitive for users. These challenges will only grow as ZEV sales move from early adopters to mainstream drivers, and as medium- and heavy-duty ZEV infrastructure proliferates.

This focus area will:

Investigate challenges and emerging solutions to issues of reliability, interoperability, price transparency, and accessibility for charging

Building from research, regulations, and joint efforts within ZEV Alliance jurisdictions, provide recommendations for improving the user experience without adding burdensome costs

Examine how these challenges differ by geography (across continents, and urban vs. rural) and for disadvantaged communities.

Battery materials sourcing and sustainability

Governments and companies leading the ZEV transition naturally seek to understand the supply chain of critical materials that power ZEVs, their global availability, where these materials are processed, and the expected evolution of their prices.

This focus area will:

Investigate risks around the supply and sustainability of ZEV critical raw materials, with a specific focus on batteries

Analyze the environmental and social impact of mining these raw materials

Provide policy recommendations on how to mitigate the environmental impact of raw materials sourcing and processing, and plan for price fluctuations

Explore policy strategies to ensure secure and reliable supply of key minerals, and incorporate environmental and societal costs

Challenges and opportunities for ZEVs in rural communities

The ZEV transition will unfold differently in rural communities than in cities due to their unique vehicle needs and driving patterns, as well as the economics of charging infrastructure deployment.

This focus area will:

Seek to quantitatively understand how the ZEV transition has developed in rural areas to date

Assess the unique opportunities and barriers to ZEV adoption for rural communities such as suitable vehicle availability, total cost of ownership, and infrastructure needs

Survey approaches for engaging rural drivers and designing appropriate ZEV solutions, by governments and community organizations

Draw lessons for scalable approaches to ensure that rural communities are not left behind in the transition

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Selection Process

The ZEV Alliance’s annual workplan revolves around focus areas, or themes, for collaborative discussion and research. Focus areas are selected through a comprehensive member survey each year to identify the most pressing challenges jurisdictions are facing as they pursue their own ZEV targets. The ZEV Alliance typically conducts three focus areas per year, which typically feature multiple member policy discussions, a research report (available to the public), and presentation of findings at virtual and/or in-person events.

2024 Focus Areas

Making charing more user-friendly

Investigates challenges and emerging solutions to issues of reliability, interoperability, price transparency, and accessibility for EV charging and provides recommendations for improving the overall user experience.

Battery materials sourcing and sustainability

Considers how governments can ensure an abundant supply of sustainable batteries to power the ZEV transition and enhance energy security while also minimizing environmental impacts of mineral extraction.

Challenges and opportunities for ZEVs in rural communities

Studies the role of rural areas in the ZEV transition including barriers to adoption and how governments can ensure that these communities are not left behind in the ZEV transition.

 

Previous Focus Areas

To discover resources from previous years’ research, explore our publications.

2015

Global ZEV transition
ZEV climate mitigation potential

2016

Evolving consumer incentives
Utility best practices
Consumer awareness programs

2017

Heavy-duty ZEV technology costs
Charging infrastructure best practices
Hydrogen fueling infrastructure

2018

Electrifying non-road transport
Fast charging lessons learned
Electrifying shared fleets

2019

Funding the ZEV transition
Implementing smart charging
Expanding ZEV access

2020

Zero-emission freight
Supply chain dynamics
Electrifying fleets

2021

Mature, equitable charging ecosystem
Supporting 100% ZEV targets
Used ZEV market

2022

Environmental justice impacts of ZEVs
Charging for electric trucks
Battery reuse and recycling

2023

Charging in multi-unit dwellings
Business case for public charging
Incentives in the mainstream market

2024

Battery materials sourcing and sustainability
Making charging more user-friendly
Challenges and opportunities for ZEVs in rural communities​