26-03-2025
Quebec resumes $4,000 EV rebate, but adds new fees for owners
Quebec sent mixed messages to the electric-vehicle market in its 2025 budget tabled March 25, vowing to resume provincial zero-emission vehicle rebate payments April 1, while also introducing a $125 annual fee and eliminating several cost-saving exemptions for EV owners.
The return of incentive payments up to Cdn $4,000 under the province's popular Roulez Vert, or Roll Green, program follows a two-month hiatus amid budgetary constraints.
The cash crunch was prompted by a large volume of orders in late 2024, as Quebec buyers looked to secure ZEVs before incentive payouts were reduced Jan. 1 to $4,000 from $7,000. According to data from S&P Global Mobility, ZEV sales in Quebec climbed to 42 per cent of all sales in the fourth quarter, far and away the highest tally on record for any Canadian region.
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Yet Quebec's ZEV penetration rate was cut in half in January, preliminary S&P data showed, as rebate payouts were reduced in Quebec and the federal incentive program ran out of funding. The Roulez Vert program was on pause through February and March.
While the return of rebates could reinvigorate sales, the program is still operating on borrowed time. As announced in 2024, payouts for ZEV buyers will be reduced to $2,000 at the start of 2026 and phased out entirely in 2027.
Quebec also coupled its renewed support for EV buyers with added costs for EV owners.
To offset lost government revenue from fuel taxes, the province will introduce a $125 annual fee for battery-electric vehicle owners, as well as a $62.50 fee for plug-in hybrid drivers. The move will level the playing field for ZEV owners, who 'enjoy the same benefits' of the province's road network, without paying for its upkeep, the budget said.
The new fee will be introduced in 2027 and indexed to inflation.
Similarly, ZEV owners will no longer get free access to tolled bridges and ferries across the province starting in 2027.
The two measures are expected to raise close to $200 million in annual revenue for the province by fiscal year 2029-30.
Quebec's 2025 budget will also alter how the province's longstanding luxury-vehicle tax is administered.
Since 1998, the province has collected an annual registration fee equal to one per cent of a vehicle's value over $40,000. The budget proposes raising this threshold to $62,500, bringing it more in line with contemporary vehicle pricing.
Zero-emission vehicles worth up to $75,000, however, have been exempt from the tax until this point. That will change at the start of 2027, when the luxury tax will apply to all vehicles valued at more than $62,500.
