While road transport emissions continue to rebound towards pre-pandemic levels, sales of electric passenger cars – currently 14% of total car sales – have been doubling every 1.2 years. If this rate continues, the deployment of electric cars will exceed what is required under a net zero scenario, reaching 65% of new sales before 2030. Electrification across other vehicle types, as well as policies to reduce car use, will also be needed.

• Direct CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion in the road sector have risen by 200 Mt since 2015. Emissions need to fall by nearly one-third by 2030 to align with the IEA Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario (NZE Scenario).
  

• Variability in the price and availability of critical minerals largely explains why electric vehicle (EV) battery price reductions have stalled in recent years.
• Recent falls in critical mineral prices could lead to a reduction in battery prices in 2023, hastening purchase price parity for electric cars, which is expected to occur before 2030 in small and medium segments.
• The total cost of ownership (TCO) of electric buses and trucks is likely to be lower than their diesel counterparts across nearly all medium- and heavy-duty segments by 2030 in Europe, the United States and China.
  

• The global market share of EVs in other vehicle categories is growing, but will need to continue growing rapidly to achieve net zero ambitions.
  

1. Governments should agree on a timeline by which all new road vehicle sales should be zero emission, with interim targets for countries taking into account their level of economic development and ability to scale up infrastructure. Governments should put effective policies in place to implement these commitments. Targets should be in line with international climate goals and should include all vehicle types.
2. Governments and international organisations should increase low-cost financing and dedicated funding to projects to accelerate ZEV adoption in EMDEs, focusing on ensuring that EMDE countries are aware of and have ready access to technical assistance and financing offers, and ensuring the effectiveness of project delivery and policy development support.
3. Governments should work together to agree on harmonised sustainability standards and metrics, including battery carbon footprint, responsible sourcing and broader environmental, social and governance risks and impacts wherever possible. In the context of digital product passports, they should work towards enabling global interoperability, including harmonised data governance (i.e. data collection, management, assurance and verification standards). Further, governments should jointly address priority areas for sustainable value chains including transport, trade and recycling bottlenecks for battery materials at the end of life, circularity-based product design and processing, and technical assistance for developing markets and emerging economies on EV battery end-of-life management.
4. Governments should agree to further increase technical and financial assistance to support charging infrastructure. Governments and companies should support and leverage the mechanisms established for sharing best practices, knowledge, and relevant technology, and for supporting implementation by countries and Non-State Actors at national and regional levels.
5. Exporting and importing countries should agree on minimum standards for cross-border trade of used vehicles. Countries should establish a publicly accessible database for tracking cross-border used vehicle trade. Governments and companies should develop strategies to define and legislate quality standards, enforced at ports of export and defined based on standards established by importing countries, for used Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles, as well as commitments to support the international trade of second-hand ZEVs, and publish plans by COP28.