Canada extends electric car purchase incentive

The ‘Incentives for Zero-Emission Vehicles’ (iZEV) program was originally scheduled to end on 31 March 2025. A new end date was not announced in the 2024 budget plan that has now been presented. The plan initially provides for a budget of 607.9 million Canadian dollars for a two-year extension of the purchase incentives, which will continue to amount to up to 5,000 dollars per qualifying vehicle – this means that the budget would be sufficient for over 120,000 vehicles.

The iZEV program started in 2019 and applies to battery electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids and fuel cell cars. As a federal program, it is available in all Canadian provinces and can be used in addition to provincial subsidies. The total subsidy for end customers is therefore generally higher than the CAD 5,000. Since the launch of the iZEV program, according to the 2024 budget announcement, “the share of zero-emission vehicles in all new vehicle sales has increased from 3 per cent to 11 per cent in 2023” – thanks to more than 450,000 zero-emission vehicles purchased or leased in Canada during this period.

Additional funding for charging infrastructure is not included in the new budget. What is new, however, is a ten per cent tax credit on investments in buildings for the assembly of electric vehicles and for the production of batteries and active cathode material for electric vehicles. Due to its raw material deposits, availability of clean energy, membership of NAFTA and US subsidies under the Inflation Reduction Act, Canada has developed into an EV and battery production location with numerous projects.

driving.ca, budget.canada.ca (info in chapters 4 and 5)