The Air Resources Board's long-delayed and controversial e-bike voucher program will be opening its application portal for a second time at 6:00 p.m. on April 29th. This time instead of a first-come, first-serve approach that left out tens of thousands of hopeful applicants, the system will randomly choose 1,000 people who join their virtual waiting room between 5:00 and 6:00 p.m.
To join the waiting room, go to ebikeincentives.org and select the ‘APPLY’ button in the upper right-hand corner of the page.
The program encourages people to arrive early (their emphasis) and make sure you have a strong and steady internet connection.
Given the chaotic experience with the first application portal opening, it’s probably a good idea for applicants to be ready with all of the necessary documentation.
First, potential applicants can check their eligibility for the program by making sure they are California residents and that their total family income is lower than three times the Federal Poverty Level (below).
Applicants are also required to watch a pair of videos on climate impact and e-bike safety.
To complete income verification, applicants will need to upload a federal tax return transcript. If you’re not familiar with what a “federal tax return transcript” is, don’t worry…neither did the successful applicants from the first opening that reached out to us after purchasing their e-bike. It’s not hard to get a copy, but it’s also best to get your copy ahead of time.
If you did not file taxes, applicants can upload different income verification documents. A list of acceptable documents to complete this step can be found here.
Once applicants have entered the waiting room there is nothing else they have to do before 6 p.m. The lucky 1,000 will be directed to the application page. Doubtless, some people will drop out before submitting an application. Those not directed out of the waiting room are encouraged to stay until they are either directed to an application or they receive notification that they have to wait for the next window.
There will be future windows. There was $31 million initially allocated for the program, enough for roughly 15,000 vouchers. CARB had always planned for multiple windows for people to apply for vouchers.
