CalBike Has Some Answers to Questions about State E-bike Incentives

Many questions remain to be answered about California’s e-bike incentive program, including the main one that people seem to have: “Where can I sign up for one?” The answer to that is: nowhere, yet.

CalBike has been closely following developments in the program, which was created with a $10 million allocation in last year’s budget – that’s 2021. But the California Air Resources Board (CARB) has yet to finish working out the details of what will be offered, how it will be offered, and to whom.

Recent public workshops have shown strong support for any incentives to be limited to people who need them, be it through a needs-based assessment or some other way of determining need, but the details on how that might be done are not clear. While CARB has chosen an administrator to run the program, several months have passed without a signed contract. Also, CARB has not released any of the application materials requested by Streetsblog to help ascertain what the administrator’s plan for the program will be.

What is known (and is at the top of CalBike’s recently posted FAQ page):

• The program will launch in 2023.
• The voucher amount will likely be between $750 and $1,250 for a standard e-bike and $1,500 or more for a cargo or adaptive bike.
• The pilot program will be limited to Californians living at or below 400 percent of the federal poverty level.
• There are many local e-bike incentive programs, and CalBike has a list of them here.

The FAQ also has information on signing up to receive updates from both CalBike and CARB.