California Air Resources Board

Background

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) hosted a public Truck Regulation Implementation Group (TRIG) meeting to discuss the Advanced Clean Fleets Regulation (ACF). This was the third meeting of the Infrastructure TRIG.

Presentations

Medium and Heavy-Duty (MHD) ZEV Infrastructure Dashboard-Beta Version demonstration

Kristi Villareal, title, California Energy Commission, gave a demonstration of the Beta Version of this dashboard, then encouraged people to test the dashboard and provide feedback.

Funding and Financing for MHD ZEV Infrastructure

Presentations and updates were given by representatives from the following agencies and programs:

• CalFleet Advisor
• California Energy Commission’s EnergIIZE program
• California Department of Transportation (Caltrans)
• US Department of Energy and US Environmental Protection Agency
• California Infrastructure and Economic Development bank (ibank)
• California Capitol Access Program (CalCAP)
• Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS updates)
• South Coast Air Quality Management District (South Coast AQMD)
• Bay Area Air Quality Management District (Bay Area AQMD)
• San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District (SJVAPCD)
• Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach

See External Slides for funding program presentations.

TRIG Panel Discussion

Panelists then asked clarifying questions about the above programs followed by focused discussion about the funding programs (see Slide 7 of CARB presentation). Following is a summary.

• Public agencies, including utilities and water agencies, are eligible for funding. EnergIIZE funding for work on the customer side of the meter can be stacked with incentives and costs covered by the electrical utility. ibank can provide loan and credit support for cost born by the customer that are not covered by the utility on the utility side of the meter.
• Financing assistance through CalCAP from electrical utilities, like SCE, can only be used for projects within the SCE service territory.
• Carl Moyer guidelines allow use of Moyer funding for infrastructure for every air district’s Carl Moyer Program, not just the programs in the three largest air districts – South Coast AQMD, Bay Area AQMD, SJVAPCD.
• Charging infrastructure funded through EnergIIZE and through utility ratepayer funded programs like Charge Ready Transport are subject to the recordkeeping, reporting and reliability requirements to be established per AB 126 (Public Resources Code sect. 25231.5). EnergIIZE requires that all DC chargers they fund be networked. Two panelists expressed concerns over the high cost of connecting to a network and operating and maintaining networked chargers. For private charging infrastructure, they questioned whether networking is necessary to meet the recordkeeping, reporting and reliability requirements. The panelist suggested working to figure out how get access to incentive funding without having to have networked chargers, while also collecting and reporting the required reliability data.
• Many funding programs require or give priority to infrastructure projects that are located in disadvantaged and low-income communities (i.e., priority populations). One panelist stated that some fleet depots are in industrial areas that do not have the priority population designation. In response, an applicant can satisfy this requirement for Bay Area AQMD funding or CalCap financing if their project is within ½ mile of, or the vehicles are operating within, a priority population.
• Interoperability testing for medium and heavy-duty vehicles and chargers is lagging behind that in the light duty market. A seamless process for interoperability testing in consultation with truck OEMs and charging providers needs to be developed.
• There are many different funding programs and many of them overlapping. CalFleetAdvisor and CALSTART’s Funding Finder are both good at helping fleet owners figure out what is available to them. One panelist suggested creating an online tool that helps someone navigate to the funding program(s) that is right for their specific situation. Further, the tool could then direct them to the program to confirm applicability, then proceed to the funding application. Such a tool could be a complement to CalFleetAdvisor.
• An audience member asked if a third party, who is acting on behalf of site owner to consult, design, build and operate charging stations, can apply for funding on behalf of their client? Tesi Bravo stated that EnergIIZE allows applying on behalf of someone so long as IRS issued taxpayer identification number (TIN) is linked to party incurring the cost and receiving the funds. Air Districts may have other requirements and should be contacted directly.
• An audience member asked if there is funding for temporary charging solutions. The South Coast AQMD rep responded that their Carl Moyer program is funding temporary charging infrastructure, such as a methanol fuel cell and a linear generator running on natural gas, which the manufacturer claims has very low emissions. South Coast AQMD considers funding for projects like this on a case-by-case basis.
• A panelist offered that truck dealerships need to be included in discussions on funding programs for charging infrastructure.
• Regarding the fuel price display on the charger: With the requirements for National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) funded chargers, prices are displayed at the start of the charging session and cannot change during the course of the session. This means that, when rates switch into higher TOU rates during a charging session, the charging provider must pay the higher rates but cannot pass that cost on to the customer.
• With NEVI, the cost charged to customers has to be related to the cost of electricity, which is intended to protect customers; however, the above requirement does not pass on the full cost to the customer when rates increase during a session, which hurts the entity who pays the electricity bill.
• There is a lot of variability and uncertainty from the fleet perspective on what electricity fuel will cost. If the owner of a charging facility wants to allow others to charge for a fee, this uncertainty makes it is difficult for them to pin down what they should charge the guest for fuel.

Closing Remarks

Panelists were asked to think about topic(s) to address at the next Infrastructure TRIG meeting in Q3/2024, and email Leslie.Goodbody@arb.ca.gov with suggestions.

Panel Members in Attendance

Adam Browning, Forum Mobility (co-chair)
Analisa Bevan, California Air Resources Board (co-chair)
Marc Perry, California Energy Commission (co-chair)
Alessandra Magnasco, California Fuels and Convenience Alliance
Colin Webber, County of Ventura, Fleet Services
Damon Wyckoff, Calaveras County Water District
David Rothbart, Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts
Erick Karlen, PG&E
Frank Harris, California Municipal Utilities Association
Greg Sarvas, LA department of Water and Power, Transportation Electrification
Jimmy Andreoli, Baker Commodities, Inc.
Joe Gagliano, Air Products
Kevin Hamilton, Central California Asthma Collaborative
Kyle Buying, Cornice Technology, LLC
Lisa McGhee, Tom’s Truck Center (Dealerships)
Matt Zerega, TerraVerde Energy
Reed Carter, Graniterock
Ryan Bankerd, UPS
Sam Wilson, Union of Concerned Scientists
Zachery Artozqui, Knife River Construction