Skip to main content

US, China kick off Race to Zero Emissions Challenge

US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx and China’s Minister of Transport Yang Chuantang unveiled the US-China Race to Zero Emissions (R2ZE) Challenge during the eighth US-China Transportation Forum in Los Angeles and invited cities and transit agencies in the two countries to join in. The R2ZE Challenge is a collaborative and friendly competition that encourages cities and metropolitan transit districts in the US and China to deploy innovative and advanced non-polluting zero emission buses (ZEBs) in th
June 6, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx and China’s Minister of Transport Yang Chuantang unveiled the US-China Race to Zero Emissions (R2ZE) Challenge during the eighth US-China Transportation Forum in Los Angeles and invited cities and transit agencies in the two countries to join in.

The R2ZE Challenge is a collaborative and friendly competition that encourages cities and metropolitan transit districts in the US and China to deploy innovative and advanced non-polluting zero emission buses (ZEBs) in their transit systems.

Secretary Foxx and Minister Yang Chuantang also signed a Memorandum of Cooperation to further cement the transportation partnership between the two countries and their cooperation in other areas of mutual interest.  These areas of interest include safety, innovation and technology, energy efficiency, urban congestion, and public private partnerships.

The Race to Zero Emissions Challenge aims to reduce greenhouse gas and criteria emissions while fostering demand and innovation for zero emission heavy-duty vehicle technology.  The R2ZE Challenge calls for a long-term commitment by transit agencies to expand green-energy transit fleets with interim targets and a finish line.

The targets are considered met when buses are deployed and remain in revenue service on an annual basis.  Each target is based on the percentage of the operator’s bus fleet in revenue service that produces zero tailpipe emissions.  In both the US and China, the goal is to have at least 35 per cent of a participating city’s bus fleet comprised of ZEBs by 2025.

Related Content

  • Fuel for Thought: The what, why and how of motoring taxation
    May 15, 2012
    The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has highlighted the dilemma facing many governments – motoring tax income set to fall even as traffic rises - in an analysis of the decline in the amount of revenue collect from fuel duty and VED (vehicle excise duty) in the UK. The collapse in income from motoring taxation will be caused by increasingly fuel efficient petrol and diesel cars, and the predicted large-scale take-up of electric vehicles.
  • Smart Spanish city trials cell-based traffic management
    November 7, 2013
    David Crawford reports on an urban electronic nervous system. The northern Spanish city of Santander – historically a port - is now an emerging technology showcase attracting global attention as a prototype for a medium-sized smart city of the future. In a move to determine the optimal use of available data, it is creating a de-facto experimental laboratory for sensor and mobile phone-based urban traffic management and environmental monitoring innovations.
  • Developing Mexico's ITS standards and infrastructure
    February 28, 2013
    Promoting open market conditions for ITS deployment remains a major part of Mexico’s recent infrastructure modernization program. Travis P Dunn, partner at D’Artagnan Consulting, looks at the progress so far. In the past six years, Mexico has embarked on an ambitious infrastructure modernization program, calling for the construction and improvement of more than 19,000km of road infrastructure and the deployment of advanced technologies that improve safety, efficiency, and convenience for road users. One of
  • Countering falling fuel tax revenue with mileage fees
    April 20, 2016
    Eric G. O’Rear and Wallace E. Tyner look at the benefits of mileage charges and how these might be implemented. Since the early 1900s, taxes on petrol (gasoline) and diesel fuels have been used to finance the construction and maintenance of roadway infrastructure and, in some countries other government spending too. Now, a combination of improved fuel economy, the advent of hybrid and alternative fuelled vehicles and a reluctance in some countries (especially the US) to increase fuel taxes has led to a d