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The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is pleased to announce a grant solicitation for an administrator to implement funding allocated to the Clean Off-Road Equipment Voucher Incentive Project (CORE) in Fiscal Year (FY) 2025-26. CORE is a point-of-sale incentive to reduce the purchase price of zero-emission off-road heavy-duty equipment. The CORE third-party administrator selected through this solicitation will be responsible for conducting the day-to-day business of running CORE among other duties.
This solicitation is open to federal, state, or local government entities or agencies; local air districts; and California-based non-profit organizations. Vehicle manufacturers and dealers are not eligible for this solicitation. CARB, in its sole discretion, may award a new Grant Agreement to the grantee selected in response to this solicitation each following year for FY 2026-27 and FY 2027-28, under similar terms and conditions.
Applications must be submitted no later than 4:00 PM Pacific, May 12, 2026. The grant solicitation and all associated documents can be found on CARB’s Low Carbon Transportation Investments and Air Quality Improvement Program (AQIP) Solicitations webpage.
Solicitation Workshop
CARB will hold one Solicitation Workshop for both this CORE grant solicitation and the concurrently running Clean Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project (HVIP) grant solicitation, at which time staff will be available to answer questions potential applicants may have regarding eligibility, application completion, and other requirements. Please see details for the Solicitation Workshop below:
Solicitation Workshop:
Date: April 14, 2026
Time: 11:00 AM - 11:50 AM Pacific
Location: Zoom Webinar
To participate in the Solicitation Workshop, please register before April 13, 2026, 3:00 PM Pacific. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email with information to join the webinar either through a computer, digital device or via conference line. Each meeting link in the confirmation email is unique so please do not share it with others. Every person who wishes to participate needs to register separately and use the unique link sent to them to access the webinar.
Please note that there is no in-person attendance option for this meeting. This meeting will be recorded. A link to the recording will be available two weeks after the meeting date on the Low Carbon Transportation Investments and Air Quality Improvement Program Meetings and Workshops webpage. The meeting may end prior to the specified end time if all questions and comments are addressed prior to the designated webinar end time.
Q&A
Interested parties may email questions to AJ Edwards until 11:00 AM Pacific, Thursday, April 9, 2026. Staff will not respond to questions regarding this solicitation via email but will instead collect all questions submitted and respond during the Solicitation Workshop. Staff also will not respond to new questions after the Solicitation Workshop has taken place. All answers provided during the Solicitation Workshop are draft; the questions emailed in advance and the questions and answers provided during the Solicitation Workshop will be reviewed and a final response will be posted afterwords on the Low Carbon Transportation Investments and AQIP Grant Solicitations page.
Background
CORE is a project intended to encourage California fleets to purchase or lease zero-emission off-road equipment. CORE provides a streamlined voucher process by which potential purchasers can receive funding to help offset the higher cost of such equipment. The CORE project provides vouchers for several categories of heavy-duty off-road zero-emission equipment such as freight, construction, agricultural, and commercial harbor craft. More information about the CORE program is available.
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