What is the Clean Off-Road Equipment Voucher Incentive Project (CORE)? The CORE Project was established 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 Project 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 pollutants in California and aims to accelerate the penetration of this cleaner equipment to help meet clean-air regulations and climate change goals. The CORE Project 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 Project listserv by completing the Contact Us form.

How do we know how much money is available? The ticker at the top of the home page represents funding availability. This reflects the real-time funding availability based on the vouchers requested.

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

What are the base voucher amounts? Base voucher amounts vary based on equipment and consider factors such as type, battery or hydrogen fueling, battery capacity, etc. 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 permitted by the CORE Project but may be disallowed by other programs. Be sure to confirm each funding source’s terms, conditions, and program requirements 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 categories listed below. Funding categories will be funded equally with available funding.

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 cargo handling equipment
4. Airport ground-support equipment (airport cargo loaders, wide-body aircraft tugs, and aircraft GPUs)
5. Railcar movers and freight locomotives
6. MPUs and mobile shore power cable management systems
7. Agricultural and construction equipment
8. Commercial harbor craft

Note: CARB reserves the right to adjust any caps within the six-month period or extend the cap period beyond six months, if warranted. Infrastructure, DACs, and small business requests are included in category caps.

How does funding prioritization work? Once the funding for a particular category has reached its cap, new voucher requests for that equipment type (including conversions of that equipment type) will be
placed on a contingency list until the cap is lifted. If funding caps for equipment categories are lifted, projects deployed in DACs and/or operated by a small business will be prioritized to receive funding. However, there is no guarantee that funding will be available for the voucher requests on the contingency list.

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.