The New Jersey administration announced the availability of $35 million in grants to help local governments electrify their shuttle, school bus and truck fleets to protect public health and the environment, leveraging proceeds from New Jersey’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI).
The new funding is for the replacement of diesel vehicles owned by, or serving, local towns including shuttles, transit buses, garbage trucks, dump trucks and small school buses. Municipal and private fleets serving towns are encouraged to submit proposals for the Diesel Modernization Program, which accepts applications on a rolling basis. Grants that meet the eligibility requirements will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis.
“While trucks and buses account for only four percent of all vehicles on the road, they generate nearly 25 percent of our transportation-sector greenhouse gas emissions and emit pollutants that are especially harmful to vulnerable populations such as children, the elderly and those with heart and lung conditions,” said environmental protection commissioner Shawn M. LaTourette. “We encourage towns across the state, and the fleets that serve them, to take advantage of this funding to replace dirty diesel trucks with electric ones that will better protect our communities from harmful air pollution and bring us closer to meeting our climate goals.”
Base incentive amounts reimburse the cost of purchasing a new electric vehicle and, if needed, a charging station and range from $15,000 to $270,000 depending on the size of the vehicle. Additionally, higher amounts are available for vehicles owned by small businesses and towns. Fleet owners are required to provide documentation that vehicles purchased with grant money replaced existing diesel vehicles.
Proceeds from New Jesey’s participation in RGGI, a cap-and-trade pact among 11 northeastern states dedicated to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the electricity-generating sector, will fund the projects. With this new funding, the state has invested $176 million of RGGI proceeds in electric vehicles to date.
To complement these projects, the state also offers the New Jersey Fleet Advisor program, which provides zero-cost assistance to help small fleets navigate key decisions around fleet electrification. This includes vehicle recommendations, cost projections and on-site infrastructure assessments. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.
Both the RGGI funding opportunity and technical assistance program directly support New Jersey’s Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) Rule, which was adopted in December 2021 to accelerate the large-scale transition to electric medium- and heavy-duty trucks. Through the rule, manufacturers are required to sell zero-emission trucks as an increasing percentage of their annual sales from 2025 to 2035.
State Electric Vehicle Progress
Since 2019, the Murphy Administration has awarded nearly $540 million for the purchase of electric vehicles and charging equipment for personal, public, and fleet use. Last month, the Murphy Administration announced that New Jersey had reached a significant milestone by surpassing 200,000 electric vehicle registrations, demonstrating increasing consumer confidence in these vehicles and the availability of charging infrastructure.
Ongoing programs that support the transition to electric vehicles include:
- The Electric School Bus Grant Program, which provides $15 million per year for three years to replace diesel school buses with electric school buses. In the first year (2024), the program funded the purchase of 48 electric school buses and associated charging equipment at 14 schools. Another round of funding will be announced this spring.
Supporting this success are incentive programs for passenger vehicles and shared electric transportation, which include:
- The It Pay$ to Plug In program, which awards grants to offset the cost of purchasing and maintaining charging stations. Since its launch, the program has awarded over $26 million in grants to fund the construction of nearly 3,000 publicly available Level 2 charging ports and 635 DC fast charging ports at 1,400 locations across the state.
- The eMobility Grant Program, which provides funding for shared electric transportation. RGGI proceeds have funded nine electric ridesharing projects to date. Additionally, local governments and community organizations are encouraged to use the eMobility Planning Toolkit to better understand the transportation needs and preferences of their residents to develop community-driven solutions that may be eligible for eMobility grants.
To further support these ongoing efforts, DEP was awarded a $10 million federal grant to deploy charging stations throughout the state. The funding will also provide infrastructure to support more zero-emission, shared transportation options, such as electric carshares, rideshares, and other eMobility services.
Published March 2025
