May 5, 2025 - On April 29, the second round of California E-Bike Incentive Project was scheduled to open on their portal but applicants experienced problems once again trying to apply as the website had “technical issues” and then crashed reports Streetsblog USA and other outlets.
The first round of vouchers which were delayed and then launched in December of last year also saw problems as the window to apply closed abruptly about forty minutes into the launch leaving some calling the process “a mess”, “a disaster and “rigged”. There was massive demand as the queue reached up to 100,000 people – read more here.
On April 29 applicants received the following message
Dear Subscriber,
Thank you for your interest in the California E-Bike Incentive Project. Unfortunately, the website experienced technical issues preventing all interested applicants from entering the queue.
To ensure an equal opportunity to participate in the program, the application window was closed and will be rescheduled to a future date. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience.
~ California E-Bike Incentive Project Team
The initiative by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) has been a long time coming and is being launched in partnership with more than 20 community-based organizations. CARB estimates that the $31 million budget of the pilot project will fund approximately 15,000 e-bike vouchers.
The program is being administered by Pedal Ahead which according to Streetsblog USA has been caught in multiple scandals involving fraud charges against their former director.
Read more in Streetsblog USA here.
