The Canadian province of Ontario has gone ahead and increased the incentives available through the Electric Vehicle Incentive Program to up to CAD$14,000 per unit — up from the previous incentive range of CAD$5000-CAD$8,500 — according to a new press release.
The government there also decided to limit the incentives’ applicability to electric vehicles (EVs) that sell for under CAD$75,000 — with the intent clearly being to encourage the purchase of cheaper models, and also to no longer subsidize the purchase of luxury cars by rich people. EVs that sell for between CAD$75,000 and CAD$150,000 will reportedly still be eligible for incentives of up to CAD$3,000.
The move is apparently part of the province’s Climate Change Strategy, and was personally announced by Premier Kathleen Wynne at WaterPark Place in Toronto a few days ago. The province is currently aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80% (as compared to 1990 levels) by the year 2050.
Here are the specifics, courtesy of the press release (a reminder, this is all in Canadian dollars):
- Increase the current incentive range for EVs from $5,000 – $8,500 to $6,000 – $10,000
- Provide an opportunity to receive an additional $3,000 incentive for vehicles with larger battery capacities
- Provide an additional $1,000 incentive for vehicles with five or more seats
- Continue to provide incentives linked to battery capacity of more than 5 kilowatt-hours
- Cap incentives for vehicles priced between $75,000 and $150,000 at $3,000
- Provide up to $1,000 for the purchase and installation of chargers for home and business use.
These changes are retroactive back to the first of the year (January, 1, 2016), so anyone that has bought an EV there since then can make a claim.
Though some commentators bang on repeatedly about us covering Tesla news too much… I’m going to go ahead and make the observation here that these changes will substantially lower the costs of purchasing a Model 3…
To date, there are currently around 5800 EVs in Ontario, with 4800 of these pertaining to EVs purchased using this incentive program.
(Tip of the hat here to “phigment” on the Tesla Motors Club forum.)
How does battery capacity incentive work? It seems 30 kWh Leaf would qualify for full $14K while SparkEV (~$33K CAD) will not qualify for 1K being a 4 seater and unknown less due to smaller battery.
But isn’t that kind of backwards? Wouldn’t you want a smaller battery EV with longer range so that it minimizes production pollution?
Good question, SparkEV. I would add this one. Why does a relatively costly vehicle (the i3REX) with only 4 seats and a smaller battery, get 35% more than 5-seat LEAF?
How would i3 get more than Leaf? i3 won’t get $1K for only 4 seats, and it has smaller battery than Leaf. Is there some other incentive not shown here for i3?