In May 2019, the Canadian government announced a new incentive offering $5,000 off the price of an eligible passenger electric vehicle (EV) or hybrid electric vehicle.
At first, the Tesla Model 3 didn’t qualify for the iZEV rebate due to the program rules. Thanks to some creative thinking by Tesla, which introduced a software limited Standard Range Model 3 with just 150km of range, the more expensive Standard Range Plus (SR+) Model 3 became eligible for the incentive.
It appears that move by Tesla played a big role in the $300 million fund being depleted by $134 million in the first 8 months of the program, when it was intended to last 3 years (via Globe & Mail].
The numbers reported by Ottawa shows that as of January 19, 2020, more than 33,000 Canadians had taken advantage of the incentive. Based on that burn rate, the program will be out of funds before the end of 2020.
Based on numbers provided by Transport Canada, the iZEV program has helped EV sales jump by 32% compared to the same period the year before. Overall, EV’s made up around 3% of all passenger vehicle sales in Canada.
British Columbia and Quebec, which each offer additional incentives of $3,000 and $8,000 respectively, show the strongest sales with 10% of all passenger vehicle sales in BC being EV’s, and Quebec with 7% through the 3rd quarter of 2019.
The big uptick in sales will help the government reach its goal of having EV’s make up 10% of all passenger vehicle sales by 2025, 30% by 2030, and having 100% of new passenger vehicle sales by 2040.
