E-bike program will give 1,000 Californians vouchers to purchase electric bikes on May 29
Contacts
What you need to know: The California E-Bike Incentive Project will provide up to 1,000 income-eligible individuals a voucher worth up to $2,000 toward the purchase of a new electric bike. The program is rolling out a revamped process intended to address problems experienced in the previous application window.
SACRAMENTO – The California Air Resources Board (CARB) will reopen its second application window for income-eligible Californians to receive up to $2,000 toward the purchase of a new electric bike (e-bike) through the California E-Bike Incentive Project on May 29 from 5-6 p.m.
Program benefits
The California Legislature approved funding for the project to help reduce cost barriers to e-bike technology that can help replace car trips, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and lower transportation costs for Californians with low incomes. According to the Institute for Transportation & Development Policy (https://itdp.org/2024/03/12/why-we-need-e-bikes-as-a-climate-and-mobility-solution/), e-bikes can be a suitable alternative to car travel, particularly for shorter trips.
To date, CARB has approved 1,022 vouchers totaling more than $2 million. About 90% of those vouchers have been redeemed.
Application tips
Interested Californians are encouraged to review the process in advance, including the income-eligibility requirements (https://www.ebikeincentives.org/eligibility/). This round will offer $2 million or approximately 1,000 vouchers to eligible applicants who will be selected at random to help ensure a fair distribution of vouchers.
The project will continue to collaborate and partner with more than 20 community-based organizations statewide. These organizations will provide outreach and application assistance to low-income residents across California to empower and inform hard-to-reach applicants who encounter additional barriers to program participation such as lack of access to a computer or high-speed internet.
Potential applicants must visit ebikeincentives.org (https://www.ebikeincentives.org) between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. on May 29, 2025, to join a virtual waiting room and have the opportunity to be selected to apply. All individuals who enter the waiting room by 6 p.m. will be placed in a queue at random and have an equal opportunity to access the limited number of applications.
Once approved, income-eligible individuals can redeem the voucher at approved retailers (https://www.ebikeincentives.org/approved-retailer-map/) for an approved e-bike (https://www.ebikeincentives.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Eligible-Ebike-List-3.6.25.pdf) at the point of purchase.
Addressing past problems
The second application window was originally scheduled on April 29 but was postponed after the program’s website experienced a high volume of traffic and detected suspicious activity. As a result, automatic security measures were activated and the website, operated and controlled by CARB’s third-party program administrator, Pedal Ahead, was temporarily unavailable. While the website resumed normal operation shortly after, the decision to reschedule was made to ensure fairness and access for all interested Californians.
The upcoming application window will make technical changes to prevent any service disruptions. CARB and Pedal Ahead hired Akamai Technologies and Queue-it to manage visitor traffic and host the virtual waiting room. Both firms are industry leaders in their fields and work with some of the world’s largest companies to securely manage large volumes of data and traffic and will ensure a safe and reliable customer experience.
What’s next
The funding for the existing grant is expected to be exhausted by this fall. CARB will seek proposals to select a program administrator for the next funding grant later this year. This transition will not interfere with any outstanding vouchers. A third round of e-bike vouchers is expected to be awarded in 2026.