California Air Resources Board

Since 2022, CARB has engaged the California Integrated Travel Project (Cal-ITP) to provide targeted payments and data innovation support related to the equitable mobility incentive programs. Cal-ITP is a joint project between the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA), which focuses on challenging policy and technology issues at the intersection of sustainable transportation and payments. They are a state-funded innovation partner and provide multiple state agencies, including CARB, with consulting services focused on lowering barriers to sustainable transportation.

CARB’s engagement with Cal-ITP was initiated to conduct research about the adoption of contactless payments at electric vehicle (EV) chargers across California to help CARB’s regulatory teams develop legal requirements for payment acceptance technologies. As a follow-on, Cal-ITP helped structure and deploy a pilot program within the incentives branch to utilize contactless payments (prepaid debit cards) to distribute charging subsidy funds in partnership with Valley Clean Air Now (CAN).

This research project helped validate bank cards as an innovative, user friendly, and efficient mechanism for distribution of CARB funds, and sparked the ongoing collaboration between our teams to research new developments and speed implementation of best practices across CARB’s equitable mobility incentives branch.

Since inception, Cal-ITP has provided advice to CARB on a wide range of topics and is helping us launch multiple pilot projects to make sustainable transportation easier to access and more affordable for all Californians.

Project Goals 

• Improve how low-income residents can obtain and use benefits, and how CARB can increase efficiency in their distribution
• Using bank cards / accounts (& other aspects of the existing retail payments ecosystem) to distribute incentives
• Coordinate across State agencies and with the private sector on issues relevant to the incentive programs
• Create an innovative ecosystem for CARB program to implement:
  • Demonstration Projects
  • New Technology
  • Impact Analysis
  • Prepare for Scale
• Optime the Ecosystem for:
  • Industry Engagement
  • Interagency Support
  • Advocate on CARB’s behalf to address bigger challenges

CARB Contribution to Project Funding/Allocations

• Fiscal Year (FY) 2022-23: $1,000,000
• FY 2023-24: $1,000,000

Case Studies and Reports

cEMV Payments Advisory for EV Charging Infrastructure

Cal-ITP developed three reports to assess the credit and debit card issuance market and learn about access and preferences for payment methods among economically diverse drivers. Cal-ITP evaluated consumer access to contactless payments by conducting a market review on payment technology development and market penetration, surveying over 1000 economically-diverse EV drivers, and engaging with key financial sector organizations to develop holistic insights regarding contactless access and adoption.

1. cEMV Penetration Report
2. EV Barriers Survey Results Report
3. Access to Contactless Payments for EV Charging

Cash Back Rewards Exploration:

Cal-ITP facilitated industry engagement with the financial sector to validate concepts for an innovative funding distribution method that utilizes “cash-back” rewards to distribute incentives over time, rather than up-front or in installments. This work included both an initial market sounding and ongoing development of demonstration concepts to test this distribution mechanism in the real world.

1. Market Sounding Background Document
2. Market Sounding Report
3. Demonstration Development and Deployment Support

"Multiple Wallets" Exploration:

For individuals receiving government subsidy from many programs, they must often use a separate card or account for each program. Cal-ITP explored if these different funding sources can be consolidated, allowing participants to receive funding for multiple purposes (and potentially from many different programs and funders) in one account or on one payment credential.

Paths to Inclusion Exploration:

Can government subsidy distribution also help increase financial inclusion for un- and under-banked populations at the same time? As many of CARB’s program already incorporate elements of credit repair and financial counseling, Cal-ITP is exploring if CARB’s incentive funds can be distributed in a manner that allows recipients to build credit or access financial services that they can benefit from beyond the reduction in mobility costs.

1. Fact Sheet: Improving Financial Access through Secured Credit Cards

Merchant Category Codes (MCC) Exploration:

Following analysis of data from the Valley CAN EV charging demonstration, Cal-ITP identified a high incidence of miscoded MCCs at chargers, which prevents merchants and payment networks from accurately tracking spending and impacts their ability to restrict or reward purchases. Cal-ITP continues to engage with major payment networks and other involved parties to ensure that transactions for EV charging are properly coded and is also exploring if gaps exist in MCC coverage for alternate mobility modes beyond EV charging.

Clean Cars 4 All Prepaid Card Procurement:

Cal-ITP conducted full-service procurement advisory, including a Request for Proposal (RFP) development, vendor engagement, and selection advisory to a consortium of participating air districts to purchase affordable prepaid cards that can be used to distribute Clean Cars 4 All subsidies. In addition to facilitating this procurement, Cal-ITP developed guidance on prepaid card procurements that can be more widely applied to other incentive programs statewide.

Payments Transparency Research at EV Chargers:

As CARB distributes funding to Californians for use at EV chargers, it is critical they are empowered to control how much they spend. Today, the payment experience is confusing and prices are hard to compare across chargers; to understand this issue better, Cal-ITP conducted research and industry interviews to explore key user experience, technology, and policy challenges and opportunities, focusing on how low-income drivers may struggle to determine how and how much they pay for EV charging.

1. EV Payments Transparency Report

Eligibility Verification Improvements:

Bringing expertise in discount provision for transit across California, Cal-ITP is supporting CARB in assessing opportunities to streamline the application process for the incentive programs. These efforts included a current-state analysis, facilitated engagement with Cal-ITP partners such as the California Department of Technology, and additional strategic advisory regarding vendor and grantee responsibilities, technology tools, and eligibility policies.