Tesla Cut From BC Hydro’s Rebate Program, 20-Percent Cheaper Model Y Coming

Published on March 14, 2025 in Electric by Guillaume Rivard

Tesla’s sales are freefalling in most parts of the globe right now, but things are only going to get worse before they start to get better.

In the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump’s 25-percent tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum imports, plus sweeping 25-percent tariffs on Canadian goods and 10-percent tariffs on Canadian energy to come into effect April 2, British Columbia this week excluded Tesla electric-vehicle charging stations, home batteries and inverters from BC Hydro’s rebate program.

“The Government of B.C. and BC Hydro are taking action to preference Canadian goods in our rebate programs going forward and to exclude, where practicable, U.S. produced goods,” according to a notice posted on the BC Hydro website.

To be clear, customers who were pre-approved for Tesla products before March 12 are still entitled to their rebates. As for Tesla vehicles, they stopped qualifying for rebates of up to $4,000 following price hikes last fall.

Cheaper Model Y on the Way

In response to stiff competition and plunging sales globally, Tesla is reportedly working on a variant of its best-selling Model Y that will be smaller and 20-percent cheaper to build, three anonymous sources familiar with the matter told Reuters this week.

Production of this new vehicle, apparently codenamed "E41," would begin at Gigafactory Shanghai in 2026 mainly for the Chinese market. One of the sources said it would also be manufactured in Europe and North America, without providing a time frame.

The report from Reuters goes on to suggest that this cheaper Model Y will use existing assembly lines and technologies from current models in order to keep the costs down.

A few weeks ago while sharing last-quarter and 2024 results, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that “plans for new vehicles, including more affordable models, remain on track for the start of production in the first half of 2025.” The new EVs will be made on the same assembly lines as current models.

Styling is anyone’s guess. So are specs like power, battery size and range, although it’s pretty safe to assume the electric motors and batteries will be borrowed from the Model Y and Model 3. Look for an official reveal to take place later in 2025.