The California Air Resources Board recently voted on funding for its Hybrid and Zero Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive (HVIP) program, resulting in over $500 million in funding for 2022.

This is nearly a 3.5% increase from the last round, the agency reported.

Changes to HVIP policy for 2022 include:

• Public Transit Bus Set-Aside: $70 million for zero-emission transit bus incentives. When the set-aside funds are fully requested, HVIP will continue to allow standard HVIP voucher requests for all public transit bus fleets pending funding availability.

• Public School Bus Set-Aside: The Rural School Bus Pilot Project will now be administered as a set-aside within HVIP, funded at $130 million in 2022. This set-aside funding is for California public school bus fleets purchasing zero-emission school buses and is anticipated to cover most of the cost of the school bus. Some Rural School Bus Pilot Project requirements will migrate to the HVIP set-aside funding, including prioritization of rural areas and scrappage of an older school bus. 

• Drayage Truck Set-Aside: $75 million for zero-emission drayage truck incentives ( heavy-duty Class 8 tractors performing drayage operations). The $150,000 base voucher amount for drayage truck early adopters extends through December 31, 2022.

• Innovative Small e-Fleets: Innovative Small e-Fleets set-aside to HVIP provides $25 million of pilot funding for incentives for small trucking fleets and independent owner operators. Adding Innovative Small e-Fleets to HVIP allows CARB to implement new mechanisms including, but not limited to flexible leases, peer to peer truck sharing, truck as a service, assistance with infrastructure, individual owner planning assistance, as well as other mechanisms.

• Improvements to Disadvantaged Community (DAC) Voucher Enhancements: The standard DAC voucher enhancement of 10% increases to 15% for vehicles domiciled in a disadvantaged community that are purchased or leased by any public or private small fleet with 10 or fewer trucks or buses, and less than $50 million in annual revenue for private fleets. The increased voucher enhancement is also available for any purchase or lease by a California Native American tribal government.

• Funding Shortfall Provisions: To ensure that small fleets have an opportunity for funding, HVIP will reserve a minimum of $25 million of traditional HVIP funds (exclusive of set-asides) for fleets of 10 or fewer trucks and buses until the third quarter of 2022. After October 1, 2022, any remaining funding from the $25 million reserve would be available to fleets of any size.

• Voucher Request Caps: The existing voucher request cap is 30 vouchers per calendar year per fleet, and 50 vouchers per year for drayage fleets. Starting in 2022, any redeemed vouchers that were requested in the same year (representing delivered vehicles) will be exempt from the voucher cap.

These changes and other topics to be included in the FY 2021-22 Implementation Manual will be discussed in more detail in a public work group meeting in early 2022.