It’s a bump in the road for anyone looking to buy an electric vehicle (EV) in B.C. The provincial government has made significant changes to its EV rebates.
On June 18, the province informed car dealerships that it was capping the qualifying threshold for electric vehicles.
“SUVs and station wagons will be moved from the larger vehicles category to the cars category and the Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) cap of the cars category will be reduced to $50,000,” part of the internal memo sent to dealerships said.
The previous limit to qualify for zero-emission cars was $55,000, as the majority of the EVs on the market are priced at $50,000 and higher.
B.C. Government memo. (Supplied)
“We have just been informed that the province of British Columbia is cancelling the provincial EV rebate of up to $4,000,” an email Downtown Kia sent to its customers shared.
There is a grace period being offered by the provincial government. It says people who are currently in the process of buying a zero-emissions vehicle that is no longer eligible for the rebate have until July 17 to have the car they want delivered.
“Dealers are most concerned that now about 75 per cent of the vehicles that were qualifying before the change, will no longer qualify,” explained Blair Qualey, president and CEO of the New Car Dealers Association of B.C.
He believes the province’s move will make it harder for people to afford an EV.
“The challenge now is an affordability question of putting this opportunity out of reach for so many families, particularly families who often want the smaller SUVs. It’s going to be an interesting time.
“We promised the government [we would let them know of] the impacts we’re seeing and hearing … from consumers who are talking to our dealers.”
Qualey adds there are growing concerns around whether the province will reach its lofty goals of getting people out of gas-powered vehicles.
“In B.C., the target is 90 per cent in 2030 and 100 per cent in 2035. The next target is 26 per cent in 2026 and last year we were about 23 per cent in B.C., so we were well on the way, now we’re worried we might not actually be able to make that 26 per cent target.”
He says the government’s move is disappointing.
“Times in the past, when the government ran out of money on the EV program, at that point, the sales of EVs fell off a cliff. We’re expecting a similar situation now. We’re losing a lot of momentum and it’s very difficult for consumers and our dealer members to deal with this.”
Bob Porter with the Vancouver Electric Vehicle Association (VEVA) says he wouldn’t be surprised if people turned to the used EV market.
“What’s good about the used market is you get it at a cheaper price and EV used prices have been dropping and in B.C., you don’t pay provincial sales tax, so you’re going to save seven per cent there.”
In a statement to CityNews, the Ministry of Energy, Mines & Low Carbon Innovation says it’s doing this for funding reasons.
“With electric vehicle (EV) sales increasing faster than anticipated and currently at record levels, we needed to make adjustments to our CleanBC electric vehicle rebate program given available funding,” part of the statement said.
“This will ensure rebates are targeted to vehicles for middle-income families. It will also push manufacturers to lower their prices — many cars are priced just above $50k. There will still be over 70 vehicle trims eligible for the program with these changes. And we are expecting more and more cars priced under $50k to be coming on the market. The ‘larger vehicles’ category MSRP cap remains at $70k to allow for vehicles like pickup trucks and vans to still receive rebates.”
The province says this isn’t the first time it’s done something like this. It points to 2019, when the threshold was dropped from $77,000 to $55,000.