2026년 2월 9일 · Unknown · financial · 출처 Yahoo Finance
Tesla Semi electric trucks at Supercharger stations at the Frito-Lay manufacturing facility in Modesto in 2023. The company is replacing diesel-powered freight equipment with zero-emission trucks, solar panels and energy-storage systems at its Modesto plant. (Benjamin Fanjoy / Bloomberg via Getty Images )
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 semi-truck, a largely unproven vehicle with a dubious production timeline.
In the past year, the California Air Resources Board (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 funding 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.
"I don't think it would be an overstatement to say this is market distortion or market manipulation," said Alexander Voets, general manager at RIZON Truck USA, a commercial electric truck brand. "CARB essentially single-handedly just made Tesla the market leader for electric vehicles for [heavy-duty trucks] without them having [virtually] any vehicles in customer hands."
Read more:Tesla is no longer No. 1: This is how a Chinese competitor surged past the EV pioneer
Historic funding, murky data
The funding was tentatively awarded through the Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project (HVIP), a state program aimed at reducing pollution and greenhouse gas emissions in the goods-movement sector and in public transit. Since its creation in 2009, the program has dedicated over $1.6 billion — a mix of state funding and incentives from local ports — toward helping fleets purchase electric, hydrogen and other low-emission vehicles.
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The state program aims to solve an outsize problem: Heavy-duty trucks make up only 10% of vehicles on U.S. roads, but they produce 45% of smog-forming nitrogen oxides and 58% of lung-aggravating soot.
But experts say that the state program has lacked thorough oversight and accountability, allowing a small group of manufacturers to exploit the program's robust endowments.
Since The Times began raising questions about Tesla's vouchers, the state's public data for the HVIP have drastically changed, reflecting lower funding amounts for Tesla and other major automakers. State officials had reserved the maximum amount for which the vehicle qualified — a number much higher than the retail price. In late January, officials revised the publicly accessible data so that the numbers no longer included local port funding that was awarded through the program — making it appear that Tesla received tens of millions less in funding.
CARB officials also noted that EV incentives from local utilities — not administered through the state voucher program — helped subsidize the Tesla Semi orders and ultimately lessen grant funding awarded by the state.
An analysis of earlier data by The Times showed that Tesla may have been poised to receive up to $202 million, roughly a third of all funding allocated during 2025 and 2026. The Tesla vouchers had each been worth from $120,000 to $430,000 but now are listed between $84,000 and $351,000.
Even after the revisions, Tesla is still poised to receive about $165 million, significantly more than any other single auto manufacturer. New Flyer, a Canadian bus manufacturer, secured the HVIP program’s second-highest funding, about $68 million, less than half that of Tesla.
Though its retail price has still not been publicly disclosed, state documents obtained by The Times show that the Tesla Semi generally sells for around $260,000 for the standard model with 300-mile range and $300,000 for the long-range model with 500-mile range.
The price has been one of the greatest selling points, as the average cost of a zero-emission big rig was $435,000 in 2024, according to CARB.
The state voucher program offers up to a 90% discount on the list price for private fleet operators.
Tesla's questionable qualifications
To qualify for a voucher, manufacturers must obtain a zero-emission powertrain certification showing the vehicle meets certain performance standards. Each model year of the vehicle also needs to receive written approval from CARB, and the vehicle must be listed in the HVIP catalog.
The 2024 Tesla Semi was listed as an eligible vehicle by CARB, despite not having powertrain certification registered on CARB's website. No subsequent model years were displayed as eligible before Tesla applied for government incentives.
"I still haven't seen any proof that Tesla has been able to satisfy the requirements," said a senior official at another EV manufacturer, who feared reprisal from state officials if they spoke out publicly.
"That is really concerning to me, because these are rules that I have to follow. So, how are they getting around this? A…