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SACRAMENTO – California is experiencing record demand for advanced clean trucks and buses. As a result, a popular statewide program that has put more than 4,400 ultra-clean trucks and buses onto California roadways was oversubscribed a week after the California Air Resources Board adopted its annual funding plan for clean transportation investments. The plan included $142 million for the program known as HVIP.
The purpose of the Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project (HVIP) is to advance early commercial technologies that are needed to meet California’s clean air and climate goals. Now in its 10th year, the program kick started the market for clean, efficient trucks and buses in California.
Because CARB has received voucher requests for the entire $142 million budget, the ability to request new vouchers has been put on hold until new funding is identified. More than 100 truck and bus fleets requested funding for vehicles produced by more than 20 manufacturers. During the 30-day period ending Oct. 24, HVIP received more than $80 million in additional funding requests. In many cases, HVIP vouchers can make zero-emission buses and trucks nearly as affordable as their fossil-fueled counterparts at point of sale.
The diversity of fleets interested in purchasing advanced technologies along with the broader variety of models available from a growing list of manufacturers signals a strong market for the kinds of advanced-technology vehicles needed to bring healthy air to California and reduce greenhouse gases. Demand for zero-emission school buses is particularly strong, with more than 20 school districts requesting funding.
Along with record demand for new funding, California is also seeing record-breaking HVIP vehicle deliveries. Clean trucks and buses delivered in August 2019 alone were supported by more than $8 million in vouchers.
While funding for HVIP is currently exhausted, California maintains a portfolio of other state and local funding programs that can support medium- and heavy-duty clean vehicles.
“This is really just the beginning of transforming the California truck and bus fleet to zero-emission and ultra-clean technologies,” CARB Executive Officer Richard W. Corey said. “Today’s zero-emission technologies are found in transit, school, and shuttle buses, along with local and regional trucks, many of which are being manufactured right here in California due to the state’s leadership on clean transportation. And in the next couple years, manufacturers of the largest freight trucks on the road will bring zero-emission products to the commercial market.”
From its inception in 2009, more than $589 million has been allocated to HVIP. Through October 2019, HVIP has committed to supporting the purchase of 3,400 zero-emission trucks and buses; more than 2,600 hybrid trucks; 3,200 low NOx engines, and 240 trucks outfitted with electric power take-off systems with vouchers requested by California fleets.
Over the next two years state investment will bring the total number of ultra-clean trucks and buses operating on California’s roadways to more than 9,000. That’s twice as many as are on the road today and more are on the way as demand for vouchers continues to grow. In total, the program has helped more than 1,500 California fleets buy cleaner vehicles.
HVIP is part of California Climate Investments, a statewide initiative that puts billions of cap-and-trade dollars to work reducing greenhouse gas emissions, strengthening the economy and improving public health and the environment — particularly in disadvantaged communities. The cap-and-trade program also creates a financial incentive for industries to invest in clean technologies and develop innovative ways to reduce pollution.
Overall, HVIP has driven growth in the ultra-clean truck and bus market in California, helping to reduce air pollution and cut climate changing gases, especially in communities suffering from high-volume traffic. More than 50 percent of vehicles purchased through the program are operating in communities disproportionately burdened by harmful air pollutants.
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