Dealer Updates

Participating in HVIP’s Public School Bus Set-Aside as a Dealer

HVIP’s Public School Bus Set-Aside for Small and Medium Air Districts (Public School Set-Aside) program will be available on March 30th and will include higher voucher amounts than standard HVIP. The $122 million set-aside is intended to cover nearly, if not all, of the full cost of new electric school buses for eligible applicants.

You may have received a similar email earlier today regarding the Public School Bus Set-Aside, which was directed towards eligible purchasers. The information herein is directed to HVIP approved dealers selling HVIP eligible school buses.

Two-Step, Purchaser-Lead Application Process

The Public School Bus Set-Aside has a two-step application process. Eligible purchasers (applicants) will complete and submit Application Part A which contains questions about the applicants’ qualifications to participate in the Public School Bus Set-Aside and requires submission of a Letter of Intent. After review of Application Part A, the HVIP Team will determine eligibility and, if eligible, advance the applicant to Application Part B. HVIP approved dealers will then submit Application Part B on behalf of the applicant in the form of an HVIP voucher request.

If approved to move on to Part B, applicants will be directed to select a V2G-capable HVIP Eligible Vehicle and communicate with an approved dealer selling the desired vehicle. Buses eligible for the set-aside funds will be indicated on the HVIP Eligible Vehicle Catalog before HVIP opens. It is at this point that the funding request will function similar to a standard HVIP voucher request.

Applicant Eligibility & Requirements

Applicants that own their own school buses are eligible to participate in the Public School Bus Set-Aside. All applicants must be in a small or medium air districts and serve students at the K-12th grade level. Eligible applicants include:

  • California Public School Districts
  • California Public Charter Schools, as listed at https://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/si/cs/ 
  • California Joint Power Authorities (JPAs)
  • California County Offices of Education (COEs)
  • Division of State Special Schools of the California Department of Education

In order to receive funds from the Public School Bus Set-Aside, applicants will select an HVIP eligible vehicle with Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) functionality*.  Recipients of the new bus(es) are not required to utilize V2G.

At the time of their initial funding request (Application Part A), applicants will need to identify bus(es) to scrap, but do not need to know yet what bus(es) they potentially want to purchase. The old school bus can be any internal combustion engine using any fuel type do not need to be the same bus type or vehicle weight class as the old bus. After applicants identify the bus(es) they plan to scrap on Part A, approved dealers will work with the applicant to submit supporting documents along with Part B.

Timeline:

Prioritization

During the first 90 days, funds will be prioritized to applicants that are located in a Disadvantaged Community (DAC) and within a small-sized air district. After the 90-day application window, the remaining funds, if any, will be allocated to requests that have been received during the 90-day window in the order described below:

  1. Applicants located in small air districts but not located in DACs, then
  2. If additional funds remain, requests from applicants located in medium-sized air districts and in DACs will be funded, then
  3. If additional funds remain, requests from applicants located in medium-sized air districts that are not in DACs will be funded.

Following the initial 90-day window, requests are first come first served for all eligible applicants in small and medium-sized air districts, pending funding availability.

Purchase Orders

A purchase order (PO) is not required to submit Application Part A or Application Part B/voucher request. POs are not required until the Voucher Request Form Terms & Conditions have been signed.

Submission of Part B

Applicants who are selected to move on to Application Part B will be contacted directly by HVIP staff and will have 30 calendar days to submit Application Part B.

Scrappage

Scrappage of the old bus can occur after Terms and Conditions have been executed and must occur within 365 calendar days of new bus delivery. Dealers will proceed with the standard HVIP redemption process after the vehicle is delivered and will receive a check for the HVIP voucher amount once complete. Once the old bus is scrapped, dealers will need to add Dismantle Form and required supporting documentation to the voucher record.  Per Appendix G of the IM, purchasers are responsible for the scrappage requirement, if documentation is not received by HVIP within 365 days of delivery, the voucher will be reduced to standard HVIP amounts and the balance will be required to be returned to CARB.

HVIP Dealer Workshop for the Public School Bus Set Aside

HVIP staff will hold a  ‘Public School Bus Set-Aside Workshop for HVIP Approved Dealers’ training session on April 5th at 10am PDT. This workshop will walk dealers through differences between this set-aside and standard HVIP, what dealers can expect and answer questions specific to this set-aside.

Details of the Public School Bus Set-Aside, including the UPDATED Public School Bus Set-Aside Flyer, sample Letter of Intent, list of air districts by size, DAC qualifications, applicant instructions and more will be published at www.CaliforniaHVIP.org/Purchasers on March 24th. Details are included in Appendix G: Public School Bus Set-Aside for Small and Medium Air Districts at www.CaliforniaHVIP.org/Purchasers and in the HVIP FY21-22 Implementation Manual.

Please reach out to [email protected] if you need any assistance or to subscribe to the Public School Bus Set-Aside updates.

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