SACRAMENTO – More than 250,000 Californians have now received a financial Clean Fuel Reward, worth more than $319 million in total, when they purchased or leased a plug-in electric vehicle – helping California’s zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) sales exceed 16 percent of all new vehicles sold this year. Electric vehicles are one of the state’s top exports, and California represents half of the United States’ ZEV market.
Governor Newsom is advancing a historic $10 billion ZEV package as part of his $37.6 billion climate package, which will expand ZEV access and affordability and support the build-out of infrastructure across the state. This builds on the Governor’s first-in-the-nation action to shift the automotive industry entirely to all electric by 2035, utilizing California’s influence to accelerate the ZEV transition in order to dramatically reduce the state’s reliance on fossil fuels.
“Our state is on the frontlines of extreme weather, and we’re taking aggressive steps to protect Californians from the costs of climate change – transitioning away from the big polluters fueling this crisis and towards clean energy,” said Governor Newsom. “These incentives make it easier and cheaper to make that transition.”
The milestone announced today comes only 18 months after the California Air Resources Board’s California Clean Fuel Reward program began, providing an instant price reduction of up to $750 at the point of sale or lease for eligible new plug-in electric vehicles at participating retailers. Since the program launched in November 2020, more than $319 million in rewards have been received by electric vehicle buyers.
According to the California Energy Commission, new ZEV sales in California have reached 1,135,387, and this year ZEV sales have accounted for 16.32 percent of all new vehicles sold in 2022 – up from 12.41 percent last year and 7.78 percent in 2020.
California offers a broad range of incentives designed to support the sales of zero-emission vehicles throughout the state. This includes subsidies for plug-in electric vehicles through the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project (CVRP), with additional amounts for low-income individuals and families to lease or purchase plug-in electric vehicles. There are also programs with funding for low-income owners of older cars to upgrade to much cleaner and newer models, such as the Clean Cars 4 All (CC4A) program. For medium and heavy vehicles, there are programs to support sales of delivery trucks and vans along with short-haul and long-haul trucks and even buses through the Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Inventive Project (HVIP). In addition, the Clean Off-Road Equipment Incentives (CORE) program supports the sale of commercialized zero-emission off-road equipment.
Visit DriveClean to learn more about clean vehicle rebates and incentives, including programs offered by local utilities and air districts.
