California Air Resources Board

October 19, 2026 

Recent reporting on California’s Clean Truck and Bus Incentive Voucher Project (also known as HVIP) brought attention to an important program that has played a key role in improving the state’s air quality and protecting public health for over 17 years.

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is disappointed that the story mischaracterized data to reach conclusions not supported by the facts. We engaged with the reporting team for months to help them understand the program with transparency. In the end, the article failed to fully acknowledge that CARB’s robust monitoring had already identified the limited number of cases and that investigations or corrective actions were already underway.

It’s important that Californians have additional information not included in the story to fully understand the HVIP program and its positive impact in the state and throughout the industry.

The cases included in the story reflect CARB catching wrongdoing, not enabling it.

• CARB takes allegations of noncompliance or fraud, and its fiscal duty to protect public funds seriously and pursues every available legal remedy. In fact, the authorities described in the article as undertaking investigative actions are CARB staff.
• HVIP is a highly successful program with the vast majority of manufacturers, dealers and voucher recipients following the program requirements and acting in good faith. Participants who attempt to cheat the system through noncompliance or fraud are identified and held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.
• Thanks to the robust oversight and safeguards built into the program, CARB actively detects fraudulent activity and takes enforcement action, including suspending participants from HVIP, conducting investigations, recovering improperly paid funds, and pursuing penalties and other legal consequences when warranted.
• These activities take time to complete, and we are unable to comment on investigations or litigation while they are active.

HVIP has strong oversight, robust reporting requirements and continues to improve to protect public investments.

• CARB is committed to public transparency and takes its duty as a trustee of HVIP’s public funding seriously. The program includes multiple layers of checks and balances to safeguard funding and reduce compliance issues or fraud, identify it if it occurs, and remedy it immediately.
• For every vehicle HVIP supports, key information including VINs and VECI labels are cross-checked with photos, final invoices, delivery documents, and DMV-issued registrations (or pending registrations). All information must match prior to receiving funds. It is an intentional process that does not rely on any one field of information to ensure that only eligible vehicles are funded.
• As HVIP continues to evolve, CARB continues to improve the process and develop new protocols to strengthen fiscal responsibility and support successful vehicle deployment. For example, vehicle manufacturers will soon begin to have their vehicles tested by CARB to be eligible for HVIP funds.

More than 16,000 HVIP-funded clean vehicles have traveled 340 million miles, replacing miles that otherwise would have been driven by diesel-powered vehicles.

• HVIP has supported more than 16,000 cleaner vehicles that have driven 340 million miles, significantly reducing toxic diesel emissions in some of California’s most polluted areas. To these communities, that isn’t “falling short on its core objectives to curb pollution and grow the zero-emission vehicle market.”
• HVIP is designed to drive technology advancement. The initial zero-emission vehicles were intentionally deployed in low-mileage scenarios because of the limited range of the earliest models. Zero-emission technology has steadily improved each year and now offers longer vehicle range and durability. Early HVIP investments helped advance the vehicle technology, range, and durability drivers experience today. 

HVIP initially funded hybrid and natural gas vehicles to accelerate emissions reductions while zero-emission vehicle technologies were still emerging.

• The article accuses HVIP of supporting fossil fuel vehicles instead of zero-emission, completely ignoring the fact that the program was launched almost 20 years ago when the predominant cleaner technologies were hybrids and other lower-emission models.
• When HVIP launched in 2009, zero-emission trucks and buses weren’t commercially available yet. HVIP’s support for early cleaner technologies helped advance the market toward zero-emission vehicles.

HVIP is recognized globally as a successful model for helping clean transportation technologies and manufacturers navigate the difficult period between innovation and widespread commercial adoption.

• Since HVIP launched in 2009, nearly $1 billion has been awarded to help fleets purchase more than 16,000 cleaner medium- and heavy-duty vehicles — including delivery vans, school buses, freight trucks and more.
• HVIP supports market and technological innovation and speeds up owner/operators use of cleaner technologies by helping offset the higher upfront cost of zero-emission alternatives.

92% of funded vehicles were manufactured by companies that continue to successfully operate today.

• While many of the companies initially producing zero-emission vehicle technologies were small startups, HVIP’s success now draws prominent, larger manufacturers that complement the smaller startups.
• CARB and its HVIP administrator actively work with fleets to provide available resources such as dealer connections and third-party service providers to keep vehicles operating that may lack of technical support from companies that have gone out of business.

HVIP empowers consumer choice while holding all manufacturers to the same strict standards.

• HVIP is a voluntary program that encourages competition among manufacturers to build the best zero-emission vehicle to meet the needs of buyers at the best cost.
• Recipients of HVIP funds are free to buy the zero-emission vehicle that best meets their needs and budget. The program has strict rules for eligibility, voucher amounts and the application process. All applicants must follow these rules and the program’s process.