CARB ZEV Rebate Program for Medium-Duty and Heavy-Duty Trucks Announced

By Morgan Leskody posted 2 days ago

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On May 13, 2026, Governor Gavin Newsom and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) announced they are allocating $1 billion to the California Clean Fuel Reward program that will provide rebates for the purchase of medium to heavy-duty vehicles. These are class 2b and above trucks that are required by the Advanced Clean Fleets ACF regulations requiring conversion to zero emission vehicles (ZEVs) for state and local government fleets.

According to the press release and website the program will begin on June 26, 2026, but there is an option to “enroll now” on the website. The rebate program will be offered on a sliding scale allowing for larger rebates for the larger (and likely more expensive) vehicles. The amounts will be between $7,500 for class b and $120,000 for class 8 vehicles.

The rebate can be applied toward the purchase of new electric medium‑ and heavy‑duty vehicles, including drayage trucks, electric semis, box trucks, delivery vans, and other fleet vehicles. While this may help close the gap between ZEV prices that are on average 132 percent higher than Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) counterparts, it is not expected to cover the compounded costs of the two-to-three ZEVs needed to do the job of every one ICE vehicle because of limited range, charging times, etc., according to a recent Caltrans report on their ZEV purchases.

The press release went on to share an update on charging infrastructure goals:

“The CEC is also continuing to study infrastructure needs across the state, with the following planned for release later this year:

New and ongoing ZEV infrastructure funding opportunities driven by the $98.5 million investment from the Clean Transportation Program.
The third Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Assessment, as mandated by AB 2127 (Ting, 2018), which will assess California’s EV infrastructure needs to meet demand.
The next Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Deployment Assessment, as mandated by SB 1000 (Lara, 2018), to assess whether charging infrastructure is disproportionately deployed.”