Wins for electric heavy-duty vehicles in Colorado, New Jersey

Last week, both Colorado and New Jersey took steps towards cutting greenhouse gas emissions and harmful pollution from fossil-powered heavy duty vehicles and moving towards clean, electrified fleets. 

On Wednesday, Colorado officially opened applications for the Colorado Electric School Bus Grant Program and Clean Fleet Vehicle and Technology Grant Program. The programs offer up to $375,000 per vehicle for the purchase of electric school buses, $72,000 for the installation of charging ports, and up to a 60% discount for the purchase of electric fleet vehicles. Colorado’s electric school bus program received $65 million in funding from the legislature last year, and these incentives can be combined with local and federal programs as well.  Applications for both programs close on June 30 of this year.

On Thursday, New Jersey announced that it will be spending $70 million to assist in the purchasing of electric heavy duty vehicles in 20 communities that are impacted by high levels of air pollution. The funding is coming from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). The RGGI is a cap and trade program that New Jersey rejoined in January of 2020, which 11 states in the Northeast are a part of. The funding will be used to purchase 114 electric school buses, 26 electric shuttle buses, six electric garbage trucks, four electric forklifts, an electric street sweeper, two electric dump trucks, as well as to fund multiple shared mobility programs.