Los Angeles plugs EV carsharing into low-income neighbourhoods
The state of California will give a $1.6-million grant to the city of Los Angeles for a pilot program that is designed to put lower-income people behind the wheel of plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles. Senate President Kevin de León came up with the plan, and California Governor Jerry Brown acknowledged it as a way to help push the region towards a zero-emissions vehicle fleet during the next couple of decades. 
Originally published on EV Obsession.

Low-income communities in Los Angeles will likely soon have access to a pilot program for electric vehicle carsharing thanks to the provision of $1.6 million for just such a project by the California Air Resources Board.

The $1.6 million grant was announced at a recent event in an affordable housing complex in the MacArthur Park neighborhood of Los Angeles — which will be one of the areas that have access to the soon-to-be-created pilot program. The current aim, reportedly, is for up to 7,000 residents to be served by the pilot.

Worth noting up front is that (as can probably be guessed based on the source), the grant money is coming via funds collected as part of California’s “climate change law” (AB 32). An accompanying law (SB 535) actually specifies that a quarter of these gathered funds should go towards the benefit of disadvantaged/polluted neighborhoods.

Green Car Congress provides a bit more information:

The grant will fulfill a key mandate of SB 1275, the Charge Ahead California Initiative, enacted last year to make clean transportation more widely available, particularly in low and moderate-income neighborhoods.

SB 1275 directs the Air Resources Board to establish a suite of equity programs aimed at making clean cars and trucks accessible to low- and moderate-income Californians. These include electric vehicle carsharing programs in disadvantaged communities; financing options that would lower combined monthly car payments and fuel costs; and incentives for the replacement of gas-guzzling “clunkers” with new or used electric cars or vouchers for transit and car-sharing.

One of the main drivers behind this legislation — the Charge Ahead California campaign — released a statement applauding the move to create the new pilot.

Image Credit: Nissan

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