California will roll out its Driving Clean Assistance Program later this year, which will provide vouchers of up to $12,000 toward the purchase of an electric vehicle so long as the recipient scraps an older internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle. Recipients must also earn less than 300 percent of the federal poverty level, which is $93,600 for a family of four.
“We want to see these [incentives] succeed in increasing the rate of transition to electric vehicles. That’s an important outcome we want to see,” said David Reichmuth, senior engineer for the Clean Transportation program with the Union for Concerned Scientists. “But we also see this as an opportunity to remove the most polluting combustion vehicles from the road and reduce those health impacts of those vehicles.”
Reichmuth spoke Aug. 13 during an online panel discussion organized by Forth Mobility on how to accelerate equitable EV adoption in the United States.
A growing feature of incentive programs — particularly those at the state level — links adoption to income, providing financial assistance for those who need it most. These pieces of public policy are aided by an improving selection of electric vehicles at more price points, many of them becoming more affordable.
“Ten years ago the only long-range option was a $90,000 new Tesla. Now, we’re in a place where there are both new and used EVs that are at a price point that is more affordable for the average car buyer,” Reichmuth said.
Programs like California’s Clean Driving Assistance Program, administered by the California Air Resources Board, however, have a wider mission beyond making EVs more accessible. The Clean Driving Assistance offering is structured to chip away at the number of older, inefficient vehicles traveling the state’s roadways.
A study conducted by the Union for Concerned Scientists in partnership with the Greenlining Institute found vehicles 20 years old or older accounted for less than 20 percent of the vehicles on the road — and for just 12 percent of miles driven annually in the state. But the study also found those cars were responsible for nearly 75 percent of the nitrogen oxide pollution from passenger vehicles, contributing to the formation of fine particulate matter pollution. This, Reichmuth said, is linked to “significant public health impacts.”
The highest fine particulate matter pollution exposure is in Southern California, with lower-income households disproportionally exposed, he said, noting the older ICE vehicles are also costly to fuel and maintain.
“So there can be an economic benefit as well for households that can replace their older gasoline car with an EV,” said Reichmuth.
For incentive programs to be successful, it takes more than just funding them — they need adequate education and public awareness campaigns built in, said Ed de la Fuente, Forth Mobility senior program manager.
“It’s pretty amazing how there are these great programs out there and people are just not aware of them,” de la Fuente said Aug. 13, calling attention to programs like the Washington EV Instant Rebate Program, also available to buyers earning up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level. The incentive provides $2,500 to $9,000 off the price of the EV at the time of purchase.
“We certainly need to keep the funds coming. But make it easier for people to learn about them and access the funds,” de le Fuente said.
By all measures, electric vehicle adoption is growing in the United States. Mass market sale of EVs began in 2010 with only a few models, and the sector required nearly eight years to sell 1 million cars nationwide, according to a recent report by National Renewable Energy Lab. Then, it only took two-and-a-half years to sell 2 million vehicles; today, EVs account for 7 percent to 10 percent of new car sales in the U.S. But in California, that number is even higher, and electric vehicles make up 25 percent of new car sales, according to the EV sales tracking site Veloz.
“That’s incredible growth,” Reichmuth said, pointing out that the market has moved beyond the early adopter phase and that promoting incentives need to be restructured to do more than just put EVs on the road.
“And we’re getting more into the mainstream buyers. And that also means we’re in a position where funding state-level rebates in California for all EV purchases is really difficult to maintain on a fiscal basis,” he said, indicating incentive programs need “to address barriers to adoption and also to look at inequities.”
