Abstract:
In 2010, San Francisco was an affiliate of the Large City Climate Leadership Group, an association of major cities around the world that recognized that climate change required global action but were not waiting for others to act. Many of these cities, including San Francisco, argued that electric vehicles could make a key contribution to reducing greenhouse gases and were trying to encourage their adoption by, among other things, promoting the construction of vehicle charging points in residences, workplaces, and public on-street parking spaces and garages. Whether San Francisco's plans made sense or not depended upon how difficult it would be to persuade consumers to buy electric vehicles and how substantial the resulting reductions in greenhouse gas emissions would be.
Learning Objective:
This case is designed to support a discussion of the options for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles in an urban planning, environmental or transportation policy course. It can also be used to illustrate the application of discounting and the concepts of public goods and externalities.
