The Center for Sustainable Energy (CSE) is proud to have administered the nation’s largest, longest-running EV incentive program – the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project (CVRP).
The California Air Resources Board (CARB), CVRP’s funder, recognized CSE’s vital role in the project’s success during the board’s November 16 public meeting. CARB Executive Officer Dr. Steven S. Cliff presented a commemorative executive order to CSE President Lawrence Goldenhersh recognizing CSE’s central role as “CARB’s partner in the program’s development, implementation and continuous adaptation.”
Launched in 2010, CVRP helped kick-start a then-emerging and unfamiliar technology by issuing $1.27 billion in electric vehicle rebates to over 532,000 Californians.
The program closed to new applications on November 8.
CVRP’s impacts and successes include:
- Establishing and nurturing partnerships with community-based organizations and environmental justice organizations.
- Conducting over 6,000 outreach events, test drives, presentations and trainings to the public and auto dealerships.
- Establishing CVRP as a model for other states that have since adopted similar EV incentive programs.
CSE provided data-driven, software-enabled program administration including rebate processing; marketing, education and outreach to low- and moderate-income and disadvantaged communities; dealership engagement; and research and data analysis to inform stakeholders and policymakers.
CSE research showed that over the project’s lifetime, 75% of rebate recipients said CVRP was very or extremely important in making it possible to buy or lease an EV.
“This landmark program played a substantial role in driving market adoption of EVs in California – where today one in every four new cars sold is an EV,” Goldenhersh said. “What’s next is to build on CVRP’s success and continue to expand EV access to more low-income consumers and those in communities most impacted by air pollution from fossil-fuel vehicles.”
CSE is a national nonprofit that accelerates adoption of clean transportation and distributed energy through effective and equitable program design and administration. CSE also administers state EV incentive programs for Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon and Vermont and for various utilities and energy providers.
