The solicitation is open to both public and private entities. To be eligible, applicants must have a business presence in California.

To be an “Eligible Project” for this solicitation, the proposed center must: 1) be located in Central California: San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, Fresno, Kings, Tulare, or Kern County; 2) support two or more local agencies and businesses within the region; 3) be open to the public without membership fees; and 4) conduct one or more of the following activities:

• Increase Public Awareness: The proposed center will conduct regular outreach events, educational workshops, and other activities to increase public awareness and promote adoption and use of alternative fuels and vehicle technologies.

• Permitting Processes Streamlining and Standardization and CEQA and Permitting Training and Assistance: Streamline and standardize permitting processes, and provide education about the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and permitting processes to encourage development of alternative fuels and vehicle technology infrastructure.

• Commercial Outreach and Education: Conduct regular outreach events and educational workshops targeting fleet owners and operators to promote the adoption and use of alternative fuels and advanced vehicle technologies in regional fleets.

• Stakeholder Collaboration: Identify and collaborate with local and regional entities in Central California to develop, demonstrate, and deploy alternative fuels, fueling infrastructure, and/or alternative fueled vehicles.

For the purposes of the solicitation:

• Alternative fuels include, but are not limited to electricity, natural gas, biogas, hydrogen, ethanol, biodiesel, and renewable diesel.

• Alternative fueling systems include commercial, institutional and/or residential demonstrations of fuel dispensing systems for the above-listed alternative fuels.

Alternative vehicle technologies include, but are not limited to:

• Electric drive cars, trucks, shuttles, buses, or off-road equipment.
• Natural gas/biogas cars, trucks, shuttles, buses, or off-road equipment.
• Hydrogen fuel cell cars, trucks, shuttles, buses, or off-road equipment.
• Various hybrid configurations of the above listed technologies.
• Technologies for efficiency, emissions reductions, and/or optimization.