Zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) are experiencing upward trends in adoption and technological maturity across all vehicle categories. To accelerate their mass-market viability, the financial sector needs specialized tools to overcome early-stage investment risks.

 

WHO: Kabir Nadkarni, CALSTART’s EV Industry Assessment Specialist, has curated a series of five innovative financing knowledge products to offer actionable insights for green banks, investors, philanthropic foundations, and financial institutions to de-risk investment in the ZEV sector and improve the economic viability of ZEVs. Featured financial strategies have been validated by CALSTART’s member companies and investor network. The Innovative Financing Toolkit is partly funded by the California Air Resources Board (CARB).

“Successful investors understand that funding early-stage zero-emission transportation companies demands precision—matching the right financial tool to the right challenge,” said Kabir Nadkarni. “CALSTART’s financing toolkit harnesses the ingenuity of our member companies to showcase actionable strategies that green banks, investors, foundations, and lenders can apply to stimulate investment in zero-emission vehicles. We look forward to advancing mass-market ZEV adoption with our growing network of partners in the financial sector.”

WHAT: A centralized hub housed within CALSTART’s website features five knowledge products created to spark investment in the zero-emission transportation sector, with more resources to follow.

Current knowledge products include:

• Equipment Financing Opportunity: Market Sizing for Financed Zero-Emission Trucks
• Battery-Electric Truck Residual Values: Benchmarking RVs to Value of Second-Life Batteries and Other Components
• Financial Landscape White Paper: Fleet Electrification Financing Barriers and Solutions
• Loan Guarantees for Zero-Emission Trucks: An Innovative Finance Tool for Mitigating Credit Risk for Small Fleets
• Component Costs of Zero-Emission Trucks: Market Trends in Components and Raw Materials

 

WHEN: Available now on CALSTART’s website.

WHERE: CALSTART’s Innovative Financing Toolkit features the above knowledge products, conference engagements, media coverage, and requests for new media inquiries. The toolkit can be found through this link; journalists are encouraged to bookmark the page for future reference.

WHY: As zero-emission transportation becomes increasingly accessible due to falling costs, stronger regulatory support, and an urgent focus on reducing emissions in vulnerable communities, this toolkit offers actionable strategies to help investors manage critical risks in this sector, including credit risk for small fleets and residual value risk of zero-emission trucks. By highlighting successful financial strategies developed by CALSTART’s member companies and their investors, this toolkit aims to enable affordable financing and mass-market adoption of ZEVs.

Additional information: Kabir Nadkarni is available for media interviews with journalists, speaking opportunities at investor conferences, and individual consultation with investors. Please contact Media Manager, Jennifer Smith, to schedule a meeting with the author of these resources.

 

About CALSTART

A mission-driven industry organization focused on transportation decarbonization and clean air for all, CALSTART has offices in New York, Michigan, Colorado, California, Florida, and Europe. CALSTART is uniquely positioned to build the national clean transportation industry by working closely with its 285 member companies and building on the lessons learned from the major programs it manages for the State of California. CALSTART manages more than $500 million in vehicle incentive and technical assistance programs in the United States and is leading a global effort to build the zero-emission commercial vehicle market.