Minnesota Offers Grants to Get Rid of Diesel-Powered Vehicles

Getting free or heavily discounted equipment for a business would be welcome with open arms. With many businesses, they don’t just have money to throw around on new equipment. It turns out that Volkswagen will be unwillingly footing the bill for some of these economic and environmental investments. It will be up to the local government around the country to figure out how the money is spent.

As a part of the settlement in the Dieselgate scandal, funds were distributed to each state based on how many registered affected cars resided there. Minnesota’s piece of the pie came in the form of $47 million. This was just part of the larger $2.9 billion sums. The state has finally come up with a plan as to what is going to happen with that money.

Apparently, the higher-ups have decided that part of the funds should be used to eliminate old diesel technology.

Via News8000, “The MPCA will offer $1.5 million in grant funding to help businesses, communities and organizations buy electric vehicles and equipment, including delivery trucks, forklifts, and airport ground support equipment.”

The agency realizes that the technology to support an electric or hybrid system exists. However, on the same note, they also accept that a transition comes with its fair share of challenges. Obviously, implementing new technology overnight isn’t a realistic goal. There’s a learning curve that comes with going electric and a different procedure to maintain the equipment. In turn, the cost that comes alongside such a transition is sure to be monumental.

These grants strive to bridge the gap to make a push toward this type of technology. Hopefully, the disbursements will make the transition a little bit easier to swallow.

In addition to offering support for a switch to electric, the MPCA is also helping with a clean diesel initiative. This $1.2 million expenditure is aimed at cleaning up the emissions from older diesel vehicles.