What is the Clean Off-Road Equipment Voucher Incentive Project (CORE)? CORE was created to reduce price barriers, enabling users to adopt more zero-emission equipment. Created by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) in 2017, CORE provides point-of-sale discount vouchers that reduce the purchase cost of equipment operated in California. CORE vouchers make zero-emission equipment as affordable as their traditional fossil-fueled counterparts at the point of sale. Funded equipment includes off-road equipment used at ports, rail yards, distribution centers, freight facilities, construction sites, and agricultural industries. CARB recognizes that this equipment has the proven ability to reduce criteria and greenhouse gas (GHG) pollutants in California and aims to accelerate the penetration of this cleaner equipment to help meet state clean-air regulations and climate change goals. CORE is part of the California Climate Investments, a statewide initiative that invests Cap and Trade dollars.

How can I be notified of CORE news and events? Sign up for the CORE e-mail list by filling out the form today: Contact Us.

How do we know how much money is available? The ticker at the top of the home page lists how much money remains available to be requested. This reflects the real-time funds, based on the vouchers requested to date.

How do I know what equipment is eligible for CORE? All CORE-eligible equipment can be found in the CORE Catalog.

What are the base voucher amounts? Base voucher amounts vary based on equipment type, battery or hydrogen fueling, and battery capacity. Please see the Voucher Funding Tables for information on voucher pricing. Additional funding is available for infrastructure, small businesses and equipment deployed in disadvantaged and low-income (DAC) communities.

Is stacking allowed with other funding, grants, incentives, etc.? Stacking, or combining CORE funding with other public funding programs, is allowed by CORE but may be disallowed by other programs. Be sure to confirm the terms, conditions, and program requirements of each funding source when evaluating fund-stacking scenarios.

What is a disadvantaged community (DAC)? How can I determine eligibility for a DAC “Plus Up”? A DAC is an area within California that is especially vulnerable to pollution and climate change because of socioeconomic and geographic factors. CORE provides increased incentives for equipment domiciled within disadvantaged and low-income communities. The DAC plus-up in CORE is an additional 10% enhancement of the base voucher amount. To determine if a vehicle qualifies for a DAC “Plus Up” (increased funding), enter the domicile address in the address search bar on this map.

What is the six-month funding cap in CORE? For the first six months of the program, each equipment will fall into one of the nine categories listed below.  During this time, no one category can receive more than 20% of the total CORE funding. This was instituted to allow potentially less commercial-ready equipment an opportunity to get their equipment approved before funding runs out. After six months, no such limitations will be in place.

The Funding Cap Equipment Categories are:

1. Terminal tractors (both on- and off-road)
2. TRUs (both truck- and trailer-mounted)
3. Large forklifts and container-handling equipment
4. Airport ground-support equipment (airport cargo loaders, wide-body aircraft tugs, and aircraft GPUs)
5. Railcar movers and switchers
6. MPUs and mobile shore-power cable management systems
7. Agriculture equipment
8. Construction equipment
9. Harbor craft

How does funding prioritization work? For the first 5 days from when the VPC begins accepting voucher requests, submitted requests will not be assigned a status of funded or unfunded. During these first 5 days, if voucher requests received is greater than the funding cap for any given equipment category (i.e., terminal tractors within the first 5 days of accepting new requests via the VPC), prioritization will be implemented. A voucher request may be prioritized to receive funding to ensure that small businesses and purchasers deploying zero-emission equipment in disadvantage/low-income communities have an opportunity to apply for and access to funding. Again, submitted requests will not be assigned a status of funded or unfunded until the prioritization process is complete, at which time dealers and purchasers will be notified of their funding status.

If the cumulative dollar value of all requests received during the first 5 days is less than the amount of available funds for any given equipment category, a first-come, first-served approach will be implemented for each individual equipment category that does not meet this condition. Submitted requests will be administered on a first-come, first-served basis. At that time, dealers and purchasers will be notified of their funding status.

What is considered a small business? Government Code Section 14837 (d) (1) (A) defines a “small business” as an independently owned and operated business that is not dominant in its field of operation, the principal office of which is located in California, the officers of which are domiciled in California, and which, together with affiliates, has 100 or fewer employees, and an average annual gross receipts threshold of fifteen million dollars ($15,000,000). Small businesses are eligible for a 15% voucher incentive enhancement.