Quebec takes issue with subsidies paid to buyers of electric cars

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The subsidy program for buyers of electric vehicles Roulez vert will be gradually reduced and completely abolished from 2027.

• Stéphane Bordeleau (View profile)Stéphane Bordeleau

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As of January 1, 2025, the $7,000 subsidy from the Quebec government for the purchase of a hybrid or electric car will be gradually reduced until it is abolished complete in 2027.

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If you were counting on this subsidy to purchase an electric vehicle in the coming years, you will have to act quickly, because from January 1, 2025 the subsidy will increase to $4,000 for fully electric vehicles and $2,000 for new plug-in hybrid vehicles less than $65,000.

Subsidies for used 100% electric vehicles and electric motorcycles will increase to $2,000 and $1,000, respectively, on January 1, 2025. These subsidies are currently $3,500 and $2,000.

Government rebates will then be gradually reduced each year until the program officially ends on January 1, 2027.

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In force since 2012, the Roulez vert program is – along with the $5,000 federal subsidy – the main incentive for consumers to purchase a electric vehicle whose prices are still very high, even prohibitive.

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According to Quebec, this government rebate would no longer be as necessary as 'before insofar as its original objective was to initiate the electrification of the automobile fleet in Quebec.

The sums [recovered] will be reinvested, in full, to fight climate change more effectively.

A quote from Eric Girard, Minister of Finance of Quebec

Although electric vehicles are still very expensive, the Legault government believes that the market will soon reach its maturity.

Consumers have demonstrated a growing interest in these vehicles, the purchase of which is more attractive thanks to market development, technologies and a gradual reduction in the cost gap with gasoline models, writes the Ministry of Finance in the Quebec budget 2024-2025 presented Tuesday.

In 2023, more than one in five new vehicles sold in Quebec was electric. It should be mentioned, however, that consumers benefited from a total subsidy of $12,000, or $7,000 from Quebec and $5,000 from Ottawa.

Will the purchase of a new electric car, whose base price currently hovers around $45,000, still be as attractive when the subsidies disappear? Hard to say.

Quebec's automobile fleet currently includes 240,000 electric vehicles.

Remember that Quebec's objective is to have at least 2 million electric vehicles on Quebec's roads by 2030.

Despite the end of the subsidy for the purchase of electric vehicles under the Roulez vert program in 2027, the government of Quebec ensures that it will continue to invest in the electrification of transport by more specifically targeting measures on recharging electric vehicles.

This is why the current $600 rebate on the installation of a home charging station offered by Quebec will be maintained.

• Stéphane Bordeleau (View profile)Stéphane BordeleauFollow