The Quebec government has already taken big steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by taking steps to mandate electric car sales, provide credits for purchases, and adding charging stations. Now they're taking EV affordability and accessibility one step further by adding incentives to buying used EVs as part of their 2017 economic plan. They are also adding an incentive for buyers of used EVs to add at-home charging stations and making changes to the new-car rebate.
The big news is rebates on used EVs. It's a bit of a complicated plan, and it is clearly designed to bring new cars into the province, not to help boost values of used cars already registered in Quebec. It's more of a boon to dealers bringing in used cars than it is to you or me picking up a used EV cheaply in somewhere like California where they are more common, but it's still a big step to improving affordability.
The project will start as a pilot that will give out rebates to the first 1,000 applicants who meet the criteria. Eligible EVs need to be three or four years old, come from outside of Quebec, be bought or leased from an authorized dealer, come with a warranty of at least 3 years/40,000 km, be inspected and certified by an authorized dealer, and cost less than $125,000 when new.
If an EV meets all of those qualifications, it can get a rebate of up to $4,000. Half of what it would have gotten when sold new. The outside of the province exception is intended to prevent the same car getting multiple rebates by changing hands several times.
Used EV buyers will also get a rebate of up to $600 for purchase and installation of a charging station. That's the same incentive offered to new car buyers, and it applies to all buyers of used EVs. Even ones not seeing a rebate under the new plan.
The rebate on new fully electric cars changes as well, but some models will see a decrease in their rebate. If the MSRP is under $75,000, then the maximum rebate is $8,000. If the MSRP is between $75,000 and $125,000, then the maximum rebate drops to $3,000. Anything over $125,000 gets no rebate under the new plan.
While buyers of expensive EVs lose the rebate, they aren't being left out completely. Currently, Quebec charges a yearly registration fee for vehicles valued over $40,000 of one percent of their current value. That fee will be reduced or eliminated for electric vehicles valued between $40,000 and $75,000.
New plug-in hybrids under $75,000 remain unchanged at between $500 and $8,000 in rebates, but any plug-in cars over $75,000 now get no rebate. Electric motorcycles now can see up to a $500 rebate, and fuel cell vehicles can get the full $8,000.
