Federal ZEV Rebates to Return, Environment Minister Says
Following Mélanie Joly, another member of the Canadian government has said the federal rebate program for zero-emission vehicles will return, keeping a promise that was part of the Liberal platform during the past election.
While leaving the House of Commons on Tuesday, Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin said a renewed program is being worked on, but couldn’t be more specific about the guidelines or the amounts.
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“Will it be named, iZEV? That I can’t tell you. But there will be a consumer rebate,” Dabrusin said, as quoted by The Canadian Press.
Canadian customers used to receive up to $5,000 off the cost of a new electric vehicle, or $2,500 in the case of plug-in hybrids with at least 50 km of pure electric range.
Initially launched in May of 2019, the Incentives for Zero-Emission Vehicles program (iZEV) abruptly ended on January 13 of this year when it ran out of funding. This is a big reason why sales of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles dropped 41.3 percent in February, 44.9 percent in March and 28.5 percent in April from the same periods in 2024, according to data from Statistics Canada. Meanwhile, total new motor vehicles sales have gone up.
Quebec’s own incentives, which were suspended from February 1 to March 31 due to funds running out, resumed in April. Out west, British Columbia put an end to its Go Electric Passenger Vehicle Rebate Program after May 15.
A number of automakers, industry representatives and Conservatives have pressed the government in recent months to either bring back the rebates or eliminate the ZEV sales mandate that requires all new light-duty passenger vehicles sold to be zero-emission by 2035, including at least 20 percent starting in 2026.
ZEVs represented only 8.11 percent of all new vehicle sales in the country during the first quarter of 2025.