FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SACRAMENTO, California, December 18 —
On December 16, 2020, the California Energy Commission’s (CEC) Clean Transportation Program announced that it was awarding $50 million in block grant funds to CALSTART, the state’s leading organization dedicated to the commercialization and deployment of medium- and heavy-duty (MHD) zero-emission transportation technologies. CALSTART submitted the top-scoring proposal under the CEC’s GFO-20-603.
The block grant funds will support CALSTART in the design and implementation of the California Zero-Emission Vehicle Infrastructure Program—or ZE-VIP. This exciting program will provide $50 million in incentives for fleets that want to support their MHD zero-emission vehicle acquisitions with electric charging and hydrogen refueling infrastructure.
ZE-VIP comes at a critical time in the state’s transition to zero-emission trucks, buses, and equipment. California fleets are on track to deploy as many as 26,000 new zero-emission vehicles by 2024. At least half will require significant new funding to support the purchase and installation of associated zero-emission electric charging and hydrogen refueling infrastructure. ZE-VIP will close this critical gap in funding and help maintain the pace of zero-emission vehicle deployment.
Ultimately, ZE-VIP will support the deployment of almost 600 zero-emission trucks, transit buses, and school buses and an annual reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of approximately 55,000 metric tons. ZE-VIP will also serve as a scalable model for additional zero-emission MHD infrastructure investments throughout California and the United States.
To inform ZE-VIP, CALSTART gathered input from 60+ organizations representing a diverse cross-section of the state’s leading industries, ports, utilities, fleets, and community groups, as well as all of the state’s major air districts. For help with proposal strategy, narrative development, and project scoping, CALSTART turned to Sacramento-based Momentum.
CALSTART
Since 1992, CALSTART has become widely known as California’s leading organization dedicated to accelerating the commercialization and deployment of MHD zero-emission technologies. CALSTART has been responsible for the design, development, and deployment of nearly all of the nation’s most well-regarded, MHD commercial voucher incentive programs, including the Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project, the Clean Off-Road Equipment Voucher Incentive Project, the New York Truck-Voucher Incentive Program, and Drive Clean Chicago.
Momentum
Momentum delivers strategic planning, fund development, project management, media, and communication services to clients working on transformative advanced energy, water, transportation, and manufacturing projects. Since 2005, Momentum has raised approximately $1 billion in grants, loans, and other incentives for its clients—enabling them to leverage approximately $5 billion in additional federal, state, and private funding.