Governor Newsom announces California’s new $1 billion rebate program for electric trucks, as Trump cedes global clean vehicle market to China

New rebates extend California’s lead in zero-emission trucks

The new rebate program complements and builds on California’s efforts to support zero-emission vehicle deployment through incentives, a key strategy to continue to maintain the state’s momentum in the face of federal rollbacks.  

This includes California’s Clean Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project (HVIP), which has delivered more than $1 billion in funding to California fleets — supporting more than 2,000 fleets, enabling the deployment of 11,600 clean vehicles, and accumulating 181 million miles statewide. In addition to electric trucks, HVIP funds school buses, transit buses, and shuttle buses, and hydrogen technology across vehicle types, with dedicated funding options tailored to the needs of small fleets and owner-operators.  

In 2024, zero-emission vehicles made up nearly 23% of new medium- and heavy-duty vehicle sales in California — more than double the state’s target and the highest total of ZEV sales ever reported.

California doubles down on clean transportation investments

Clean freight is only part of the picture. California is also building out the charging infrastructure that passenger vehicle drivers need because a complete clean transportation future requires both the trucks moving goods and chargers powering the cars.

In January 2025, California shattered its clean cars goal, surpassing 2.5M new ZEV sales — showing that policy certainty creates resilient markets global investors can trust.

California is doubling down on its clean transportation leadership. In his January 9 budget, Governor Newsom proposed a new, nearly half-a-billion-dollar incentive program when matched with a required automaker incentive to accelerate ZEV adoption and respond to the loss of the federal ZEV tax credit, while supporting American automotive innovation at a critical moment—just as the Trump administration has abandoned the good-paying jobs of this global market. 

Competing to win the future requires investing in clean energy technologies, strengthening partnerships with allies, and reducing dependence on China in critical sectors.

Instead, the Trump administration repealed key parts of the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and imposed broad tariffs that have raised costs for American consumers while straining relationships with close allies. Despite Donald Trump’s efforts to cede the clean transportation economy to China, California is ensuring American workers and manufacturers can compete and win in the industries that will define this century.

The Golden State’s commitment extends beyond consumer incentives. In the latest Clean Transportation Program Investment Plan Update, the CEC allocated $98.5 million in light-duty zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) infrastructure funding for fiscal year 2025-2026 to focus on Level 1 and Level 2 charging in locations with longer vehicle dwell times, including at-home charging with a specific focus on multifamily residences.

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

The gold standard for American EV infrastructure  

California is tearing down barriers to ZEV deployment, speeding up EV charging station installations, and deploying infrastructure in hard-to-reach and low-income areas.

Becoming an EV driver in California is increasingly getting easier. There are now over 200,000 public and shared EV charging stations statewide. EV chargers can be found at grocery stores, park-and-ride lots, and even gas stations, whereas shared EV chargers can be found at apartment complexes, workplaces, doctors’ offices, sports facilities, and other parking areas with some level of restricted access. This statewide network of public and shared private chargers is in addition to the estimated 800,000 EV chargers installed in California homes.