PASADENA, Calif. — What could be done with $125 million to reduce the environmental harm being done by off-road equipment? The California Air Resources Board (CARB) aims to find out and has announced the second round of its Clean Off-Road Equipment Voucher Incentive Project (CORE), tripling the amount of allocated funding from the previous round for equipment used in agriculture, airport, rail yard, port, construction and marine operations. 

CORE first opened in February 2020 and closed that August after the total allocation of $44.6 million was exhausted. Due to high demand, $30 million of the FY 2021-22 allocation was appropriated ahead of CARB’s board meeting to fund vouchers on a contingency list. The project’s relaunch, scheduled to begin in July 2022, will have $130 million in available funds. 

CORE is part of California Climate Investments, a statewide initiative that puts billions of Cap-and-Trade dollars to work reducing greenhouse gas emissions, strengthening the economy, and improving public health and the environment — particularly in disadvantaged communities.

CORE encourages and assists purchasers and lessees of off-road equipment – agricultural tractors, forklifts, airport cargo loaders, container loaders, railcar movers and the like – in acquiring zero-emission versions of this equipment. While conventional internal-combustion engine (ICE) off-road equipment accounts for only a small percentage of all vehicles in California, shifting over to zero-emission equipment can help reduce the significant amount of greenhouse gasses these vehicles release.

The project is streamlined for ease of use. Those who qualify will be provided vouchers by CORE for point-of-sale discounts on off-road equipment, up to a maximum of $500,000 per voucher, and will not have to retire or sell their existing ICE equipment (called a “scrappage” requirement). There will also be additional funding for charging/refueling infrastructure equipment operated in disadvantaged communities and for small businesses. 

“California is backing up its commitment to clean the air in overburdened communities with a significant investment in zero-emission vehicles and sustainable transportation,” CARB Deputy Executive Officer Craig Segall said. “CORE is specifically designed to assist industry sectors that currently use off-road equipment and can help clean up the communities hardest hit by air pollution.”

 The project, administered by the national clean transportation non-profit CALSTART, is expected to reduce emissions, particularly in the most impacted areas; help build confidence in zero-emission technology in support of CARB strategies and subsequent regulatory efforts; and provide benefits such as technology transferability, reductions in advanced-technology component costs and larger infrastructure investments.

“CORE increases awareness and uptake of zero-emission equipment across many industry sectors and also sends market signals to manufacturers who can bring more of this equipment to the market,” said Niki Okuk, deputy director at CALSTART.  “We are looking forward to the new products coming online and the improvements in emission reductions and air quality.” 

There are nine funding categories of zero-emission equipment that CORE supports, including:

  • On- and off-road terminal tractors
  • Truck- and trailer-mounted transport refrigeration units (TRUs)
  • Large forklifts and cargo-handling equipment
  • Airport ground-support equipment
  • Railcar movers and switcher locomotives
  • Mobile power units (MPUs) and mobile shore-power cable management systems
  • Construction equipment
  • Agricultural equipment
  • Commercial harbor craft

The equipment eligible under these categories is manufactured and sold by such companies as:  

  • Orange EV
  • Kalmar
  • Kalmar Ottawa
  • ITW
  • Wiggins
  • BYD
  • Dannar
  • AEM
  • Freewire
  • Zephir-Trackmobile
  • Worldwide Forklifts
  • Shuttlewagon 
  • eNow

To become an approved CORE manufacture or dealer visit californiacore.org. If you are a purchaser interested in zero-emission equipment visit the project page for more information. 


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