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Rivian Voices Support for California's Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS)



California continues to lead the transition to cleaner transportation, with electric vehicles (EVs) now making up nearly a quarter of all vehicle sales in the state. In Capitol Weekly today, Rivian emphasized the importance of the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) in building out essential EV infrastructure.


As competition in the EV market intensifies, robust policies like the LCFS play a crucial role in harnessing private investment and fostering innovation. Since its launch in 2011, the LCFS has successfully incentivized clean fuel production, creating more than $1 billion in market value and opportunities for businesses across the clean transportation sector.


In the op-ed, Rivian argues:


The LCFS has been a cornerstone of California’s climate strategy since its inception in 2011. Under the LCFS, clean fuels earn credits that producers of dirty fuels buy to achieve compliance with the standard. The resulting market multiplies the business opportunity for companies up and down the clean transportation value chain. In Rivian’s case, our Rivian Adventure Network fast chargers generate credits when they charge EVs on the road, while fleet owners earn credits when they charge our vans and trucks in their depots. Market-wide, electricity credits like these have already generated more than $1 billion in value to date—a powerful market signal and catalyst for growth in California’s EV sector.


Even more is possible. Policymakers have proposed changes to the LCFS that would incentivize the auto industry to go above and beyond its minimum EV sales requirements while enabling us to make larger investments in widely available charging infrastructure, multilingual marketing and education initiatives, or even purchase rebates——allowing everyone to enjoy the benefits of owning an EV. Other newly updated program rules, if finalized, would also support more early investments in public chargers, even in parts of the state where EVs are not yet common such as rural and underserved communities.  These are smart ideas, and Rivian is advocating for them to ensure that California realizes its EV goals as quickly as possible.


The key to making this work is setting the right targets for reducing the carbon intensity of fuels under the policy. That is what drives continued innovation and investment in clean fuel technologies—like EVs—that make compliance with the LCFS possible. Rivian strongly supports the recently proposed updates to the policy’s targets. The LCFS has been such a success that we are now ready to hit the accelerator.


You can read the entire op-ed here

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