North Carolina's Volkswagen Programs
Governor Roy Cooper designated DEQ to manage North Carolina’s share of the VW Settlement, an agreement between the German automaker and the U.S. Department of Justice on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). DEQ’s Division of Air Quality received more than $92 million from the national settlement with the automaker to distribute to qualifying projects. The amount awarded was based on the approximately 16,000 affected 2.0-and 3.0-liter diesel engine vehicles registered in North Carolina.
States were required to develop plans for using their settlement funds and submit them for approval to the Trustee, Wilmington Trust, managing the funds nationally. Appendix D-2 of the Consent Decree outlines specific details of how funds may be used. North Carolina’s plan originally involved three phases of funding, which later were consolidated into two phases. DEQ targeted funding to achieve significant reductions of nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions across the state. We allocated the funds through grants and rebates to eligible projects focusing on the most cost-effective projects, the quantity of NOx emission reductions and other factors.
Program Phases
DEQ made more than $26 million of the settlement funds available in Phase 1 of the Volkswagen Settlement program. Funding was administered through three programs: the Diesel Bus & Vehicle Program, and the ZEV Infrastructure Program, and the Level 2 Rebate Program.
Phase 1 Plan Phase 1 Final Report
Awarded Projects
The competitive application process for the the Diesel Bus and Vehicle Program and the ZEV Infrastructure Program resulted in 116 proposals. The Level 2 Rebate Program received 118 applications. Overall, 147 applications were awarded funding. The awards include:
- $22.5 million for diesel vehicle replacements, including:
- $12.2 million for school bus replacements
- $6.1 million for transit bus replacements
- $4.2 million for on-road heavy duty equipment, including refuse haulers, dump trucks and debris trucks
- $3.4 million for DC Fast charging stations
- $1.1 million for Level 2 charging stations
Phase 2 was the final phase of funding and combined the previously proposed phases 2 and 3 into one final phase. DEQ invested the remaining $66.5 million through two main programs: the Diesel Bus & Vehicle Replacement Program, and the Zero-Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Infrastructure Program. Each program had several funding opportunities.
Phase 2 Plan Phase 2 Final Report
Awarded Projects
The awards made in this final phase included:
- $64.7 million for clean diesel vehicle replacements, including:
- $11.0 million for clean on-road and off-road heavy-duty vehicles and equipment
- $30.1 million for clean school buses, including electric school buses
- $13.6 million for clean transit and shuttle buses, including electric buses
- $6.5 million for DC Fast charging stations, including:
- $5.9 million for new charging ports along priority corridors
- $626,000 for upgrades and repairs to existing charging stations
- $3.4 million for Level 2 charging stations, including:
- $1.7 million for new ports at state agency-owned sites
- $1.0 million for new ports accessible to the public
- $394,000 for new ports at multi-unit dwellings like apartment complexes
- $240,000 for new ports at workplaces and businesses
Historically Under-Resourced County Outreach Program
In Phase 2, DAQ provided additional outreach and technical support to 37 identified historically under-resourced counties to ensure more communities were able to apply for funding. Outreach included webinars, in-person information sessions, social media campaigns, community partnerships and other engagement methods. Applications for projects in these counties qualified for bonus scoring points on their applications.
With this program, DAQ sought to increase participation in counties unfunded in Phase 1 increase awareness of funding opportunities for Phase 2. Ultimately, in Phase 2, DAQ awarded 43% of funding to projects in historically under-resourced counties.
Contact
Program | Contact | Phone | |
---|---|---|---|
Volkswagen Settlement, Level 2 Infrastructure | Steven Rice | steven.rice@deq.nc.gov | 919-707-8404 |
School Bus, DERA | Sheila Blanchard | sheila.blanchard@deq.nc.gov | 919-707-8423 |
Heavy-Duty Vehicles & Equipment, Shuttle/Transit Bus | Matthew Hoskins | matthew.hoskins@deq.nc.gov | 919-707-8424 |
DC Fast Infrastructure | Dave Willis | dave.willis@deq.nc.gov | 919-733-1482 |