The California Air Resources Board has adopted a revised funding plan for proceeds from the state’s cap-and-trade program that aims to help more lower-income consumers buy clean vehicles. It also includes investments in zero-emission heavy-duty trucks and buses.

Highlights of the revised plan include:

• $133 million to the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project (CVRP), which offers up to $5,000 in vehicle rebates for the purchase of EVs and PHEVs;
• $80 million to light-duty vehicle pilot projects, including $60 million for retire-and-replace pilot projects; and
• $150 million for heavy-duty vehicle and off-road equipment projects, including technology demonstration projects, and providing zero-emission buses for transit agencies and rural school districts.

In order to make clean vehicles more accessible to lower-income California drivers (many of whom live in communities that are highly impacted by air pollution), the rebate project will increase incentive levels for lower-income consumers and reduce high-income eligibility caps.

“The investment of $363 million from our cap-and-trade program for these low-carbon transportation projects will continue to drive the market for new technologies, and put more ultra-clean and zero-emission trucks, buses and cars into the communities throughout California that need them the most,” CARB Chair Mary D. Nichols said.

Source: California Air Resources Board