Ava Community Energy Extends E-Bike Rebate Program for One More Year, Bringing E-Bikes to More Than 2,000 Additional Residents

First Year Saw an Estimated 1.9 Million Miles Ridden by Program Participants

Media Contact: Bobby Peña, 916-730-5191, bpena@bp3.com

Oakland, CA – Ava Community Energy (Ava) has made the decision to extend its successful Bike Electric Program for one more year. In the first year, more than 6,000 e-bike rebates were redeemed through local bike shops, supporting locally owned businesses while reducing transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions and road congestion. With the extension, the program expects expanded access to e-bikes for approximately 10,400 residents between July 2025 and December 2027.

“The success of our e-bike program has been overwhelming,” said Howard Chang, CEO of Ava Community Energy. “This program has met all of its goals, including reducing transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions, increasing equitable access to clean transportation, and supporting the local economy.”

The largest e-bike incentive program in California, the program extension will add $3 million in funding, bringing total program program funding to $13 million, and will extend the program through the end of 2027. Ava Bike Electric provides point-of-sale rebates to help Alameda County residents and Ava customers in San Joaquin County purchase new e-bikes from participating local bike shops throughout Ava’s service territory.

Participants, who must be at least 18 years of age, are selected through monthly random drawings, which began in July of 2025. Since the program’s inception, more than 30,000 eligible applications have been received.

Chang continued, “A key part of this program is our partnership with locally-owned bike shops, supporting the local economy. Every $1.00 redeemed through an e-bike rebate generated $1.71 in new sales for participating bike shops, which in turn contributes to increased tax revenue for our municipal partners. We currently have 29 participating bike shops throughout Alameda and San Joaquin Counties.” 

Ava is committed to ensuring that everyone can participate in the benefits of clean energy and transportation. With this focus, at least 40% of all rebate funding is reserved for income-qualified participants enrolled in CARE, FERA, or EAP electricity assistance programs. Surveys show that 96% of participants would not have been able to acquire an e-bike without the rebate.

“This is exactly the kind of program we should be investing in. It addresses so many of our top priorities: promoting clean transportation and eliminating damaging emissions, encouraging people to think more about how to make a positive impact on our environment, and showing them that they, individually, can make an impact with the safe, responsible use of an e-bike,” said Igor Tregub, Berkeley City Councilmember and Ava Board Member.

It is estimated that 1.9 million miles have been ridden in just the program’s first year.

“My whole family loves our new e-bike!” said Melinda, an e-bike rebate recipient in Tracy, Calif. “It has enabled me to get more exercise, commute to work faster than I could by car, reduce my carbon footprint, and enjoy bike rides with my kids because I couldn’t keep up with them before. The rebate made it possible for us to make e-biking part of our everyday lives.”

Chang concluded, “We want to be part of the solution to make clean-powered transportation more accessible to everyone. We are proud of the success of our e-bike incentive program, and this is just one more step in our overall goals of cleaner air, sustainable transportation, and fewer emissions that are a hazard to our communities.”

Visit AvaEnergy.org/bike-electric to learn more.

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Ava Community Energy (Ava) is the not-for-profit public power provider for more than 2 million residents and businesses in Alameda County and San Joaquin County. As one of 25 community choice aggregation (CCA) programs operating in California, Ava is part of the movement to provide energy choice while expediting local and state-wide climate action goals. Ava is committed to creating a brighter future in our communities and beyond by providing clean power at competitive rates, reinvesting in our member communities, and developing programs that make it easy for customers to discover and adopt clean energy solutions. To date, Ava has saved customers more than $183 million and contracted for nearly 2.5 gigawatts of renewable energy generation and storage.