Ignacio Hernandez says he would have never thought about buying a hybrid vehicle, but getting a Clean Cars 4 All voucher from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (District) enabled him to afford a cleaner, newer car. With its electric battery, Hernandez’s new vehicle achieves the equivalent of 88 miles per gallon, and he can commute from his home in East Oakland to his job in Dublin without using any gas. Even when he has to run his car on gas, it gets nearly double the gas mileage of his old car, a 1996 Toyota Camry.
For many Bay Area families, a car is the only realistic transportation option. For BAAQMD’s low-income families, this often means driving a 20 year-old vehicle that is unreliable, expensive to maintain, and costly at the pump.
The District is helping low-income families afford newer, cleaner, and vastly more fuel-efficient cars. Low-income drivers can trade in their older car to the District and receive a voucher of up to $9,500 toward a new or used zero- or near-zero emission replacement vehicle. Not only does this help the District improve air quality and reduce GHG emissions, it also helps financially constrained families reduce the overall cost of vehicle ownership.
The District is working closely with community groups throughout the Bay Area to ensure the program is accessible to the families and communities most in need of this assistance. To date, the District has issued vouchers to 103 low-income families totaling over $850,000. Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and battery electric vehicles account for 78 percent of the vehicles purchased with these vouchers, while the remaining recipients have selected hybrid-electric vehicles.