Officials with the Valley Air District unveiled a dozen new all-electric vehicles on Thursday, Oct. 6, with the vehicles being put into service throughout the Valley as the latest phase in the District’s initiative to transition to a zero-emission fleet. The District also encouraged public agencies to accelerate the turnover of existing fleets and adopt the cleanest vehicle fuels and technologies through funding available in the Public Benefit Grant New Alterative Fuel Vehicle and Charge Up! EV infrastructure programs.
“The Valley Air District strives to serve as an example to businesses and government agencies by considering environmental impacts in all aspects of our operations,” stated Samir Sheikh, Executive Director and Air Pollution Control Officer. “We appreciate Valley public agencies supporting clean air efforts through partnerships such as these.”
The District operates fleet vehicles to conduct various activities, and to demonstrate leadership in promoting the cleanest technologies, the District has adopted the Zero-Emission Fleet Transition Strategy for transitioning 100 percent of the fleet (over 100 vehicles) to electric vehicles by 2026. With the rapid rise in electric vehicle availability/range and charging infrastructure in recent years, new opportunities have become available to take advantage of these vehicles in the District’s fleet. In addition to the air pollution benefits from transitioning to zero emission vehicles, there are also overall cost reductions based on reduced fuel and maintenance costs.
The purpose of the Public Benefit Grant New Alterative Fuel Vehicle program is to fund the purchase of new electric, plug-in hybrid, or alternative fuel vehicles for public agencies to promote clean air alternative-fuel technologies and the use of low- or zero-emission vehicles in public fleets. Through the program, public agencies can receive up to $20,000 per each new electric, plug-in hybrid, or alternative fuel vehicle, with a maximum annual funding amount of $100,000 per agency.
To date, this program has helped put over 2,300 new clean vehicles on the road. For more information about this grant program visit https://www.valleyair.org/grants/publicbenefit.htm or call 559-230-5800.
To encourage additional EV infrastructure throughout the Valley, the District provides funding through the Charge Up! grant program for public agencies, businesses, and property owners of multi-unit dwellings (i.e., apartment complexes, condominiums, etc.) to install electric vehicle (EV) chargers to support existing EV owners and encourage the growth of the clean technology in the Valley. Charge Up! awards up to $5,000 for a single-port Level 2 charger, up to $6,000 for a dual-port Level 2 charger and up to $25,000 for a Level 3/DC Fast Charger. This grant funding may be matched with available state resources under the CalEVIP grant program at www.calevip.org. For more information about this grant program visit www.valleyair.org/chargeup or call 559-230-5800.
The Valley Air District covers eight counties including San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, Fresno, Kings, Tulare and San Joaquin Valley air basin portions of Kern.
