Nearly $1 Billion in New EPA Funding will Help Accelerate the Electrification of America’s Hardest Working Trucks and Buses

(WASHINGTON, DC) — Today the U.S. EPA announced $932 million in grant funding to support the purchase of zero-emission heavy-duty vehicles and related fueling infrastructure, which will improve air quality for millions of Americans while tackling climate pollution. The funding will come from the agency’s Clean Heavy-Duty Vehicle Program with the goal of replacing fossil-fueled class 6 and 7 vehicles, which are among the most common and hardest working vehicles on our roads: school and transit buses, garbage trucks and service trucks.

“This nearly $1-billion-dollar investment from EPA is important because it will accelerate the electrification of America’s hardest working trucks and buses,” said Lindsay Shigetomi, manager, fleet electrification at Environmental Defense Fund. “Thanks to this investment, people will begin noticing that many of the garbage trucks, school buses and service trucks  that drive through their neighborhood every day are much cleaner and quieter. This funding will also speed up the transition to zero-emission vehicles by building the market scale for these vehicles.”

Combined, Class 6 and 7 vehicles make up about 38% of heavy-duty vehicles in the U.S. but account for an outsized impact on climate and air pollution — especially in traditionally overburdened communities. Consistent with the Justice 40 initiative, $400 million of these funds are being allocated to projects in communities in air quality nonattainment areas. Vehicle replacements funded under this program will result in cleaner air and improved health for the communities in which they operate, the children and other passengers on the vehicles and the drivers and maintenance staff who work closely on these vehicles.  

Class 6 and 7 vehicles mostly return to the same location every night and have limited and highly predictable mileage — making them ripe for a transition to electric. Funds made available to fleets through this program will bridge the financial gap of electrifying these large vehicles and expand electrification into even more challenging vehicle applications by scaling the production capacity and improving the technical capabilities of heavy-duty vehicles.

The Clean Heavy-Duty Vehicle Program is one of several recent significant steps the Biden administration has announced this year to support the ability of industry to transition to clean, zero-emission fleets and reduce emissions from heavy-duty transportation, including:

• The finalization of Phase 3 of EPA’s GHG Emissions Standards for Heavy-Duty Vehicles, which sets performance standards for vehicle and engine manufacturers, ensuring fleets have access to a wide variety of clean vehicle models and technologies.
• The Clean Ports Program, a $3 billion investment that supports the adoption of zero-emission equipment, including the trucks that serve ports.
• The National Zero-Emission Freight Corridor Strategy, which outlines priorities for developing a national charging infrastructure strategy for heavy-duty vehicles and sets clear priorities for targeting federal investments.
• The Climate Pollution Reduction Grants program, which provides $5 billion in grants to states, local governments, tribes and territories to develop and implement ambitious plans for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other harmful air pollution.
• Tax credits for Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refueling Property Credit (30c) that enables companies to recoup a significant amount of the costs for installing charging stations at their facilities through the Inflation Reduction Act.

The deadline to apply for this grant funding is Wednesday, July 25, 2024 at 11:59PM (ET). For additional information on how to apply for this and other publicly available funding, head to EDF’s Fleet Electrification Solutions Center, a free resource that offers fleet owners and operators a one-stop-shop for all the resources needed to navigate their fleet electrification journey.