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Canada EV Rebate Program Paused As Allocated Funds Run Out

Canada’s Incentives for Zero-Emission Vehicles (iZEV) program offered federal incentives to Canadians for buying electric vehicles, similar to the federal EV rebate managed by the IRS in the United States. However, as of January 12th, 2025, the Canadian incentive program is paused indefinitely because it ran out of money. When it was still in effect, the program offered Canadians an  incentive of up to CA$5,000.

Chevy EVs with no EV rebate available from the Canadian federal government.

“The iZEV Program was scheduled to conclude on March 31, 2025, or when the allocated funds were fully exhausted,” explains the Transport Canada website. “Due to the popularity and increased demand for the Program in recent years, the funds allocated to support the iZEV Program have been completely committed ahead of schedule. This surge in interest has led to a faster depletion of resources than anticipated, necessitating the pause of the iZEV Program earlier than March 31, 2025.”

It’s unclear when, if ever, the iZEV program will resume. What is clear is that the Canadian government is not issuing any more incentives, effective January 12th. If you’ve already received pre-approval on an application for the incentive, you’re still getting it. If you haven’t already been pre-approved as you read this, the incentive isn’t happening.

Chevy Blazer EV charging.

Incidentally, Quebec’s Roulez vert Program, the province’s own EV rebate program, will be temporarily suspended from February 1st, 2025 through March 31st, 2025. Most EVs sold in Canada in 2024 were in Quebec, partially because of the province’s generous EV rebate of up to CA$7,000 for an EV and up to CA$5,000 for a PHEV. For vehicles registered in 2025, those numbers go down to CA$4,000 and CA$2,000, respectively. The Quebec incentives are scheduled to be phased out entirely in 2027.

This means an EV shopper in Quebec could’ve gotten government incentives totaling up to CA$12,000 as recently as last month, but a shopper buying the same EV next month won’t get any government incentives at all. Some provincial electric vehicle rebate programs are still available as of this writing, the more generous ones providing incentives up to $5,000 in New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and the Yukon.

Chevy Equinox EV driving.

As this relates to GM, the Chevy Equinox EV was GM’s third best-selling model in Canada in 2024, accounting for 23 percent of all Chevy sales in the country. The only GM models to outsell it were the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra full-size pickups. The iZEV program likely played a role in the outstanding sales figures of the Chevy Equinox EV, and it will be interesting to see how the program’s abrupt end so early in the year will affect electric vehicle sales in Canada.

George is an automotive journalist with soft spots for classic GM muscle cars, Corvettes, and Geo.

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Comments

  1. Let ev’s stand on their own merit and price. If they aren’t ready to make it without subsidies then they are still a niche market product and they need a little more time.
    Even without rebates, they prices are coming down and almost attainable to those who can afford a decent vehicle payment.
    They could use the rebate money to offset the lack of gas tax for road maintenance.

    Reply
    1. 40K is still too much for a vehicle that’s almost half that in ICE configuration…. But when the government pays nearly half, why not?

      Reply
      1. And the worst part is that it would actually be a 60K vehicle if GM didnt post a loss on it and tried to make a profit like they did with the 28K equinox.

        Reply

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