Zero Emission Bus Rapid-deployment Accelerator (ZEBRA)

Investing in Impact

P4G provided the partnership with $1,714,676 through two rounds of scale-up funding in 2018 and 2020.

The partnership, co-led by C40 and the International Council on Clean Transportation with additional support from Centro Mario Molina-Chile, Clean Energy Works, Global Green Growth Institute, and World Resources Institute, supported cities to expand their electric fleets. This included the procurement of over 900 e-buses in Santiago, the first fleet of 60 articulated e-buses to Mexico City with further procurement underway, and development of new financial structures to enable small owner-operators to purchase their first e-buses in Medellín (pending financing approval).  

Encouraging ambitious political commitments in Medellín, Mexico City, Santiago, and São Paulo, the partnership helped cities translate these into fleet-wide deployment strategies and innovative business models to support the establishment of a procurement pipeline of over 3,600 e-buses in the region. Additionally, fourteen international bus manufacturers and distributors committed to making zero-emission vehicles commercially available in Latin America and, where possible, locally produced.

The partnership created the E-Bus Radar, a public platform showcasing all e-buses circulating in public transport fleets in Latin America, alongside other useful information such as market share of manufacturers, historical market growth and list of e-bus models available. This platform has now become a reference across the region.  

At COP26 in Glasgow, investors committed publicly to making over $1 billion U.S. dollars available for well-prepared zero-emission bus projects and to establish context-specific financial mechanisms to support a continuous pipeline of investable projects.

With a concerted effort to mobilize knowledge, the partnership shared best practices for bus electrification through a regional working group and annual events, delivering training to selected operators in participating cities. ZEBRA partners also developed case studies, technical reports, market analyses and other useful materials in English, Portuguese, and Spanish.  

ZEBRA isn’t stopping here. Thanks to funding by ClimateWorks Foundation until 2025, the partnership will focus on scaling up work at national level, developing new financial mechanisms, addressing market barriers such as the lack of specific e-bus segments, and expanding to new regions.