State's voucher plan favors Tesla, rivals say

California has set aside $165 million for electric trucks not readily available.

- BY TONY BRISCOE

Photographs by BENJAMIN FANJOY Bloomberg TESLA Semi trucks charge up at the Frito-Lay plant in Modesto. The vehicles still aren't widely available.

A California clean-air program, designed to rapidly electrify the state's truck and bus fleets, has recently faced intense criticism for reserving its largest-ever tranche of funding to subsidize Tesla's all-electric semitruck, a largely unproven vehicle with a dubious production timeline.

In the last year, the California Air Resources Board, or CARB, and its nonprofit partner CALSTART have set aside nearly 1,000 vouchers, worth at least $165 million, to provide commercial fleets with steep markdowns on the long-delayed Tesla Semi, according to state data obtained by The Times.

The battery-powered big rig has been advertised as a groundbreaking freight truck capable of traveling up to 500 miles on a single charge.

But the news of Tesla's windfall outraged some in the trucking industry, who allege the state provided the world's wealthiest automaker with preferential treatment for a vehicle that is not ready.

Nearly eight years since Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk unveiled the Tesla Semi as a concept, it still isn't widely available in stock. It has repeatedly faced production delays and still doesn't have a publicly advertised retail price.

In fact, some critics argue the Tesla Semi shouldn't. have qualified for government funds at all.

At the time Tesla submitted its voucher requests, the vehicle didn’t appear to have the necessary certifications and approvals to be sold and legally driven on California roads.Still, the 992 state-administered incentives have effectively established the Tesla Semi as the front-runner in the electrified heavy-duty truck class.