Methodology

How we build, verify, and maintain the EV Rebate Finder database. We publish this so anyone can audit the work — what's verified, what isn't, and why we're confident in what we publish.

What's in scope

The database covers active California funding programs for commercial EV chargers. "Commercial" means non-residential — multifamily, affordable housing, fleet, workplace, public-access (retail, hotels, public lots, DCFC corridors), mixed-use, and school/government sites.

We do not include programs for residential single-family chargers (those have their own ecosystem and are out of scope). We do not include vehicle purchase rebates — those are a separate category covered by California's Clean Vehicle Rebate Project. For more on the distinction, see EV vehicle rebates vs EV charger rebates.

The six tiers we track

• Federal — IRS, FHWA, USDA, DOE programs. Currently 7 active programs.
• California state — California Energy Commission, CARB, HCD, IBank programs. Including CALeVIP 2.0, EnergIIZE, REACH, AHSC, and others.
• Regional — California's 35 air-quality agencies (also called air districts or AQMDs/APCDs). Span multiple counties. Examples: BAAQMD, SCAQMD, SJVAPCD, SDAPCD.
• Utility — Investor-owned utilities (PG&E, SCE, SDG&E), Community Choice Aggregators (MCE, Ava, SVCE, others), and municipal utilities (SMUD, LADWP, BWP, others). Currently the largest tier.
• County — County-level programs and ordinances.
• City — City-level programs, including permit fee waivers and expedited permitting.

How we verify

1. Source-of-truth check. Every program is verified against the administering agency's published page or PDF. We don't rely on third-party aggregators (DSIRE, NREL AFDC) as primary sources — they're useful for discovery but their California commercial detail is shallow and slow to update.
2. Status flag. Each program carries a status — Active, Between Rounds, Upcoming, Waitlist, or Verify Before Applying. Programs with a recent status change get the verify flag and a direct call to the agency before publishing.
3. Verification date. Each program shows when it was last individually verified. Programs older than the latest refresh get re-checked first.
4. Confidence level. Internal field marking how confident we are in the data. High confidence comes from a stable agency page with structured fields. Low confidence requires direct phone/email confirmation.

Refresh cadence

Monthly for the full dataset. Roughly 3–6 hours of manual verification per cycle — going through the long-tail programs flagged for re-check, plus any agency announcements we caught during the month.

Weekly automated polls for federal funding announcements via grants.gov, plus the California Energy Commission funding-opportunities RSS feed. New entries are flagged for human verification before publishing.

Where direct APIs exist (NREL AFDC, grants.gov), we use them as a cross-reference — never as the primary source. The APIs lag the source pages by weeks to months in many cases.

What we publish vs. what we exclude

We publish:

• Active programs accepting applications now or in the next solicitation window
• Between-rounds programs with credible signals of a future round
• Upcoming programs with a published NOFO date or solicitation timeline
• Waitlist programs where funding may resume
• Verify-before-applying programs that recently changed and need direct confirmation

We exclude:

• Closed programs (no longer accepting applications, no announced future round)
• Programs that don't have a charger-specific eligible expense
• Residential / single-family programs
• Vehicle rebates and incentives

How "program role" tags work

Each program is tagged with a role:

• Direct (~141 of the 154 active programs) — programs that specifically rebate, fund, or facilitate EV chargers. The default view of the database.
• Enabling — broader programs (affordable-housing capital, mobility services) where chargers are an eligible expense among many.
• Complementary — adjacent infrastructure (storage, etc.) often co-located with chargers.
• Financing — loans and credit guarantees (CalCAP, IBank).
• Revenue — ongoing operational credits (Low Carbon Fuel Standard).

The homepage defaults to direct programs only. Toggle "Include enabling / financing programs" to see the full stack including these adjacent funding sources.

What you should not assume

The database is an orientation tool, not a compliance product. Before applying to any program:

• Confirm current status with the agency. Funding pools deplete mid-cycle.
• Confirm eligibility for your specific project. Census-tract requirements, equipment specifications, and applicant entity rules vary by program and change over time.
• Talk to your tax preparer for tax credits. §30C eligibility (especially the eligible-tract requirement) requires an Argonne 30C Locator check before assuming the credit applies.

EVgpo is not a tax advisor, financial advisor, or grants consultant.

Corrections and feedback

Found a missing program, an outdated status, or a factual error? Email samy@evgpo.com with "Database" in the subject line. We track and ship corrections in the next monthly refresh — see the changelog for what's been updated.