Bay Area Air Quality Management District
939 Ellis Street, San Francisco, CA 94109
June 16, 1997

SOLICITATION OF INTEREST AND APPLICATIONS FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLE
INCENTIVES FOR PRIVATE FLEETS

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District (Air District) is pleased
to announce a program to offer financial incentives to non-public
fleet operators who purchase or lease qualifying electric vehicles.
The incentives are limited in number, and are for $5,000  per vehicle.
This notice describes the incentive program and solicits applications
from potential participants.

Who?
The Air District is targeting these incentives to private or
non-profit entities who operate vehicle fleets with five or more light
duty vehicles.  (Public agencies are not eligible to apply for this
particular program, but are eligible for financial assistance with
electric vehicle demonstrations through the Air District's on-going
Transportation Fund for Clean Air.)

What?
The Air District has received a $50,000 grant from the California
Energy Commission (CEC). This funding was provided to the CEC by the
U.S. Department of Energy.  The Air District will use these grant
funds to provide a $5,000 per eligible vehicle purchase/lease
incentive.  Currently, funds are available to provide the incentives
for ten qualifying vehicles. Applicants may be limited to no more than
two qualifying vehicles, depending on the number and quality of
applications received.  Some additional funding will likely become
available later in 1997, enabling the Air District to increase the
number of $5,000 incentives available.

The incentives are available only for the purchase or lease of
vehicles meeting certain performance standards and qualifications.  As
of the date of publication of this announcement, eligible vehicles are
the GM EV1 sports coupe, the GM S-10 pickup, and the Honda EV-Plus
sedan.  It is anticipated that the Ford Ranger EV pickup and the
Toyota RAV4-EV sport-utility vehicle will qualify for this program in
the summer of 1997.  Currently only the Ford Ranger EV, the Toyota
RAV4-EV, and GM S-10 are slated to be offered for sale or lease in the
San Francisco Bay Area in the appropriate time period for this
program.  Vehicle availability may change during the course of the
program, but applicants will have to buy or lease a qualifying EV by
January 30, 1998.

The Air District will use a competitive process to award the limited
number of incentives available.  Interest and demand for the
incentives is expected to exceed the funding available. This process
will score and rank the applications received based primarily on the
extent of emission reductions generated from each EV acquired.  Thus,
applications that generate the greatest emission benefit to the region
will be favored.  The extent to which the EV replaces travel currently
being made with a gasoline vehicle will be evaluated.  Provision of
publicly-accessible infrastructure for recharging will also be
considered.

The evaluation criteria are listed below in relative order of
importance:

1. Estimated emission reductions:  This is the primary criteria that
   will be used in differentiating among applications, with greater
   emissions reductions being favored.
2. Publicly accessible infrastructure:  Applications that provide
   publicly-accessible recharging will be favored.
3. Gasoline vehicle replacement:  Applications that replace an
   existing fleet vehicle will be favored.
4. Number of electric vehicles in existing fleet:  Fleets that
   currently lack EVs will be favored.

Incentive recipients will be required to enter into an agreement with
the Air District.  Receipt of the buy-down incentive obligates the
recipient to fulfill the reporting and monitoring requirements listed
in Attachment A.

Note that these $5,000 incentives are in addition to already-existing
Federal tax credits for EV purchases/leases. These existing credits
are for up to $4,000 per vehicle, or not more than 10% of the purchase
price.  Criteria and procedures for these tax credits are administered
by the Internal Revenue Service, not the Air District.

Why?
Widespread use of EVs in the Bay Area is essential if the region is to
attain the State's air quality standards which are established to
protect the public's health from the adverse effects of air pollution.
In addition, the CEC and U.S. Department of Energy's Clean Cities
Program promote the introduction of battery-operated vehicles to
reduce reliance on petroleum and diversify transportation fuels.  The
Air District is offering these incentives to accelerate the
introduction of EVs in the Bay Area.

Where?
Vehicles acquired with the incentives must be used and based within
the jurisdiction of the Air District.  This includes the counties of
San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, Napa,
and Marin, and the southwestern portion of Solano County and the
southern portion of Sonoma County.

How?
To apply for this incentive, submit an application which provides the
information listed on Attachment B. All the requested information must
be provided. Number your responses to parallel the numbering contained
on Attachment B. Submit your application to:

 Thomas Addison BAAQMD, 939 Ellis Street, San Francisco, CA  94109

Air District staff will evaluate and score all applications received.
A rank order of the applications will be proposed for approval by our
Board of Directors in September, 1997. The Air District will notify
all applicants of the approved rank order list immediately following
Air District Board of Directors approval.

The purchase incentive will be provided through the
manufacturer/dealer. The Air District will issue a "buy-down"
certificate to the vehicle manufacturer. The manufacturer will then
reduce the price of the vehicle by $5,000. The Air District will
reimburse the vehicle manufacturer. This arrangement, currently used
by other California Air Districts, has certain tax advantages to the
vehicle purchaser/lessee.

When?
To be considered, completed applications must be received by the Air
District by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, July 25, 1997.  Incentive recipients
must have purchased/leased and received the qualifying vehicle(s) by
January 30, 1998.  Recipients will have to keep the vehicle(s) in
service for a period of at least two years, provided the vehicles
achieve the performance goals stated by the manufacturer or are not
recalled.

Who to Contact?
If you have any questions about this program, please contact Tom
Addison at the Air District.  We encourage those applying for the
incentives, or considering submitting an application, to communicate
with us prior to the submittal deadline.

Tom Addison, Phone: 415/749-5109, Fax: 415/749-4741
E-mail: taddison@baaqmd.gov

ATTACHMENT A REPORTING AND MONITORING REQUIREMENTS
Incentive recipients will be required to collect the following
information:

maintenance and repair costs
fuel (electricity) costs
miles per Kilowatt/hour
average daily miles driven
brief narrative information on:
 vehicle driveability, vehicle use, typical routes driven, driver and
 technician comments and responses to surveys on vehicle.

This information shall be provided to the Air District for the first
year of the vehicles' operation.  Furthermore, incentive recipients
will be required to allow the Air District and CEC reasonable access
to their site and EVs for publicity purposes.

ATTACHMENT B APPLICATION
Part A: General Information

1. Contact Person (person completing the application): name, title,
   company, address, phone #, fax #, E-mail address.

2. Signature of person authorized to submit the application (if
   different from #1 above): name, title, company, address, phone #,
   fax #, E-mail address.

Part B: Current Vehicle Fleet Information
3. List current number of owned or leased light duty vehicles (less
   than 5,750 lbs. gross vehicle weight) by fuel type.  Indicate how
   many of these are operated in the Bay Area.

Part C: Planned Use for EV
4. Describe the planned use for the electric vehicle(s) to be
   purchased/leased with the buy-down incentive. Include an estimate
   of the number of miles the vehicle will be driven per year, and
   whether the vehicle will replace an existing gasoline powered
   vehicle.  If so, list the make, model, and model year for the
   vehicle being replaced, as well as what will happen to it.  (The
   Air District will require evidence of the disposition of any
   replaced vehicles.)

Part D: Available or Planned Recharging Facilities
5. Describe any existing or planned recharging facilities (location,
   type, voltage, and amperage) that will be used for recharging the
   electric vehicle(s) purchased. For any planned facilities, provide
   a schedule for their installation.  Indicate whether recharging
   facilities will be publicly accessible, and the days and hours of
   accessibility.


Tom Addison
Bay Area Air Quality Management District
Phone: 415/749-5109, Fax: 415/749-4741
E-mail: taddison@baaqmd.gov