The California Hybrid Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project (HVIP) is a program created by the California Air Resources Board (ARB) to help speed the early market introduction of clean, low-carbon hybrid and electric trucks and buses. HVIP helps build the market by reducing the cost of these vehicles for truck and bus fleets that purchase and operate the vehicles in the State of California. The HVIP voucher is intended to reduce about half the incremental costs of purchasing hybrid and electric medium-duty and heavy-duty trucks and buses. HVIP will help fleets purchase vehicles immediately and will meaningfully increase the production of these vehicles. Read About the Project to learn more.
The ARB created the HVIP to speed the market introduction of low-emitting hybrid and electric trucks and buses. Hybrid and electric trucks and buses are fairly new technology and are therefore more expensive than traditional vehicles, especially in the early market when production volumes are low. ARB recognizes that these vehicles have the proven ability to reduce criteria and greenhouse gas (GHG) pollutants in California and aims to accelerate the penetration of these cleaner vehicles to meet state clean air regulations and climate change goals.
ARB worked with industry, fleets, and other organizations to learn what approach would best speed the introduction of low-emitting medium-duty and heavy-duty hybrids and electric vehicles. One of the major barriers was the current high cost of these advanced vehicles at low production, and the fact that commercial fleet purchasers need the cost reduction to come at the time of purchase to change their purchase decision. In the case of hybrids, the amount of reduction needed in the early market was determined to be roughly half the incremental (extra) cost of a hybrid compared to a conventional vehicle. Finally, ARB determined that a simplified program, not requiring a long proposal process, was best for spurring these purchases. The voucher provides this solution via a streamlined, first-come, first-served incentive, which allows fleets to guarantee a reduced price on an eligible vehicle at the time of order. Dealers then get a rapid payment for the voucher at the time of vehicle delivery and registration.
The voucher amount ranges from $10,000 to $30,000 for eligible vehicles depending upon the vehicle’s Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR). Please see Section 2.6 of the FY11 HVIP Implementation Manual for a full table and explanation of the voucher system.
Vouchers are defined by the weight range. The heavier the vehicle’s gross vehicle weight rating, the greater the voucher funding. For a list of the vouchers, per weight range, please see Section 2.6 of the FY11 HVIP Implementation Manual.
Dealers must be registered in the HVIP program to be able to submit voucher requests for their customers’ orders. As a dealer, your first step is to successfully complete HVIP Training. Once the terms and conditions of the program are signed and the training is completed, you will be eligible to apply online for vouchers. Please note that a dealer always applies with a fleet for each voucher; and each application must represent a real hybrid or electric truck order. For more information, please go to the For Dealer page.
For a sample "Dealer Terms & Conditions" click here
For a sample "Purchaser Terms & Conditions" click here
Not at this point. HVIP 2011 web enhancements may require dealers to re-register in the coming months, but you will be notified ahead of time if this becomes necessary.
The dealers are the ones who create and submit the vouchers. They’ll do all the work. The purchasers just need to choose one of the HVIP-approved dealers and work with them.
For a sample "Dealer Terms & Conditions" click here
For a sample "Purchaser Terms & Conditions" click here
Some large fleets purchase vehicles directly from a manufacturer. The manufacturer in this instance would be treated as a dealer for the purposes of HVIP, and the fleet would work directly with the manufacturer to apply for vouchers directly. The manufacturer simply has to make sure that its representative has gone through the dealer training already.
The HVIP Team held workshops across the State of California in January of 2011 to get the word out to fleets and dealers. If you missed them, don’t worry: they’re posted online. There is a short fleet outreach webinar educate fleets about HVIP and the benefits of hybrid trucks and buses, as well as a webinar for dealers to become trained and eligible for the program. There is also a short webinar that explains to dealers the differences between this year’s program and last year’s.
If your company makes hybrid or electric trucks or buses, you can apply with ARB to place your vehicles on the HVIP-eligible vehicles list. There are specific steps you must follow. Vouchers can only be requested for vehicles approved by the ARB. Please see the ARB web site for details.
Dealers and fleets cannot request a voucher for anything that has already been registered or titled. The vehicles need to be new. It’s acceptable to have the Azure retrofit system, as long as the vehicle is new and the hybrid system has been installed before the vehicle has been titled and registered.
A variety of buses are available for HVIP vouchers, including school buses, transit buses, commercial buses, and shuttle buses. Please see the eligible vehicles list for the full list of eligible buses.
Hybrid trucks and buses have been shown in testing to reduce both fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by 20 to 50 percent, depending on the vehicle and its application. Some hybrids are showing even greater reductions, especially when combined with reductions from turning off the engine at work sites and at stops, with reductions from incorporating advanced designs, and with reductions from the use of low-carbon fuels. Hybrids also further reduce criteria (smog-causing) emissions beyond the level of the certified engine in the vehicle (on a gram/mile basis). ARB estimates this reduction at 25 percent. Finally, hybrid technology is also an important strategic advantage for the United States: U.S. and North American manufacturers are currently the world’s leaders in developing and producing these vehicles, which retain jobs today and create new green tech jobs in the years ahead. Please read more in the section "Making the Case for Hybrid & Electric Trucks and Buses".
HVIP only includes medium- and heavy-duty vehicles. However, zero emission light-duty vehicles are eligible for rebates under the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project.
No manufacturers have made their hydraulic hybrids eligible yet, but there has been interest from manufacturers in doing so. If any vehicles become eligible, the HVIP team will be sure to broadcast this news to fleets and dealers.
There is a ticker on the HVIP home page, and on the dealer page, so you will always know how much money remains. This reflects the real-time value of the fund, based on the vouchers requested to-date.
The funding pot for HVIP FY11 is going to be $18,086,442, but will actually start at $16,086,442. That’s $2 million less than the budget as the program will hold back the $2 million for the public fleet set aside for the first six months.
The procurement process for public fleets can often be much slower than for private fleets, as they often have to go through approval processes that may take several months. To ensure that public fleets would have the ability to participate in the project, the set-aside funding was especially created to have HVIP funding available for public fleets six months after launch. If seven months pass by and the money has not been consumed by these public fleets, it will then be released into the general fund for all fleets to pursue.
It should be noted that public fleets are not limited to the set aside funding. That is, they have as much right to the general fund as the other fleets. The set aside just ensures that there will be opportunity for them to access some funding in a staggered time frame.
The wait list amount changes as vouchers are accepted into the pot. The voucher funds on the Home Page reflect these changes to the funding pot in real time. When the funding pot dips into the negative values, that negative value is the actual amount of voucher funding that remains on the wait list.
No. Registration from the ARB HVIP automatically carries over to the SCAQMD HVIP and will carry over to other future funders, so existing HVIP-registered dealers do not need to re-register. But dealers must be registered to be able to request vouchers for the wait list.
The preliminary voucher amounts for the SCAQMD HVIP will be the same per vehicle as those of the 2010 ARB HVIP. If the purchaser has not requested a voucher via the 2010 ARB HVIP, then their first vehicle will receive the extra $5,000 from the voucher funds, just as it would in the 2010 ARB HVIP.