CARB said that a “majority” of the funds will go towards purchase incentives for plug-ins and other zero-emission vehicles. About $10 million will go towards hybrid and zero-emission buses and trucks. So far, California, which has already mandated that one in seven new cars sold in the state be zero-emissions by 2025, has given out incentives to owners of more than 8,500 passenger cars, trucks and buses since 2008.
The program will likely raise eyebrows to those acknowledging that the state is cash-strapped. Still, California, which accounts for about one in seven U.S. registered vehicles, continues to take a leadership role in the green-vehicle movement. In fact, Darrell Issa, the House Oversight Committee Chairman, recently sent a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency questioning CARB’s influence in the federal government’s drafting of last year’s heavy-duty-truck greenhouse-gas emissions standards.
