Quebec will give you a $4,000 rebate on an EV, even if you're buying it used

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Electric vehicle shoppers in Quebec must feel pretty lucky, living in by far the most generous province when it comes to EV incentives — they can get back up to $8,000 on a new battery-powered vehicle, or $13,000 if you include the $5,000 incentive the federal government started kicking in last May .

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But even with those rebates, you’re staring down price tags like $36,000 for a base Nissan Leaf; or $39,000 for a Chevrolet Bolt (with taxes).

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Quebec will give you a $4,000 rebate on an EV, even if you're buying it used Back to video

Never mind the fact that, if the dealership doesn’t have the model you’re looking for, you’ll have to wait for it a couple months.

Maybe that’s pushed you to look at the “ occasion ” market, as people in La Belle Province call the used car segment.

It’s not a bad idea, if at least for the fact you’ll save on depreciation, since EVs often take quite a hit, resale-value-wise, rolling off the lot — like your computer, they quickly find themselves outdated by new models with better technologies.

Canadian Black Book estimates 2015-model-year EVs retained just 36 per cent of their MSRP by January 2019, compared to 48 per cent for gas-powered cars, 56 per cent for SUVs and 67 per cent for trucks.

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Quebec’s used EV rebates

Buying a used EV in Quebec gets even more enticing when you find out you’re likely eligible for a provincial rebate. Yes, that’s right, Quebec has incentives for used electrics, too.

Quebec wants so much to meet its 2020 target of “100,000 electric vehicles immatriculés ” that for more than two years now, it’ll hand you a no-one-really-knows-about-it rebate of up to $4,000 on your 2015, 2016 and, since this September, 2017 EV.

The recent inclusion of the 2017 model year opens the door to the longer-range Chevrolet Bolt (383 km); Hyundai Ioniq (200 km); and BMW i3 (185 km).

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The rebate is supposed to equal half the provincial incentive for a new all-electric vehicle. The more-expensive Tesla Model S and Model X, for example, are eligible for only a $3,000 rebate new, so the used rebate on those is $1,500.

Here’s the caveat(s)

The catch? The province wants to avoid paying incentives twice on the same car, so eligible EVs can’t have been registered in Quebec before — the used EVs it applies to need to be imported from another Canadian province, or from the U.S.

Furthermore, only fully electric vehicles are eligible for the used $4,000 rebate, leaving plug-in hybrids or range-extended EVs like the Chevrolet Volt or Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid out in the cold, even though they’re typically granted the $8,000 rebate bought new.

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“The financial assistance is limited to vehicles that have the greatest GHG emission reduction potential, already considering that their (remaining) service life is shortened compared to a new vehicle,” reasons Transition Énergétique Québec (TEQ), the agency coordinating this Roulez Vert incentives program.

Oh, and the other caveat

Jumping onto Kijiji to find a used EV with a nice discount on it? Not so fast — the provincial incentive also doesn’t apply to private sales, only purchases made from “a car dealer that maintains an establishment in Quebec.”

“Since the importation process can be complex, we wanted to make sure it was well done and that (vehicles of) quality were brought into the equation,” explains Bernard Lamonde, TEQ’s Operations and Innovation spokesperson. “Also, for us, it’s much easier to receive multiple requests from (fewer) dealerships, an already well-established and well-known network with new EVs incentives.”

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The dealerships, for their part, must evaluate and certify the used EV for “its residual battery capacity with respect to the initial capacity,” or how much life it’s got left, essentially. “We want to make sure the electric experience is positive for the first-time buyers,” says Lamonde.

What’s the battery capacity threshold that disqualifies an EV from eligibility? There is none. Quoth the TEQ spokesperson: “Up to now, no participant came to us with this situation.”

From California to Quebec

Some Quebec dealerships have jumped at this “occasion.” Like Guy Lussier, owner of a Chevrolet dealership on Montreal’s South Shore, who set up an imported-EVs arrangement with California, the biggest EV market in North America.

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“We discovered there was a demand and a real market for used EVs”, says the president of Lussier Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Corvette of Saint-Hyacinthe. “We’re selling used EVs from our brands, of course, but also from Nissan, BMW — and we’re starting to look at Tesla.”

How many used EVs has he sold since April 2017, when the $4,000 rebate went en vigueur ? “More or less 600 units,” says Lussier. “In fact, we sold more used EVs than news ones.”

The rebate no one knows about

The used EV incentives program ran as a pilot project for two years before being officially implemented April 2019, but hardly any buyers know about it. Requests for new EV rebates outnumber the ones for used EVs by nine to one.

In fact, only 1,935 used EV rebates have been granted so far, worth a total $7.7 million — though the funding envelope is three times higher.

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For context, TEQ’s website says it’s handed out 19,360 “new” EV rebates totaling $125 million from January to September this year.

Only in Quebec

Lamonde says as far as he knows, no other province or state offers incentives on used EVs like this. “Beside some experiments in Texas, now discontinued”, La Belle Province is a lone ranger in this field.

As a pioneering program, then, there were lessons to be learned. At launch, the pilot project insisted eligible EVs come with a “full vehicle warranty of at least three years or 40,000 km.” Since most used vehicles this age had run out their manufacturer’s coverage, this obligation was basically forcing the consumer to buy an extended warranty — worth more or less half the $4,000 rebate.

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That requirement’s now been lifted, though instead there’s an obligation for the manufacturer to honour the remaining new vehicle warranty in Quebec, including coverage on battery wear.

That means you’re out of luck if you’re looking for a used Volkswagen e-Golf or Kia Soul EV imported from the States, since those automakers drop any warranty coverage once the car crosses the border. But fret not, EV shoppers of Quebec — it sounds like you’ve plenty more luck where that came from.

Top 5 EVs to buy used

1. Chevrolet Bolt

With 383 kilometers of driving range, this is one of the most capable EVs on the market. Need we say more?

2. BMW i3

Of all used EVs out there, this little froggy-looking hatchback hold its value best, says Canadian Black Book. In a category that maintains just 36 per cent of its MSRP after four years, a 2015 BMW i3 will retain an average 44 per cent of its when-new value. Take note: Quebec’s $4,000 used-EV rebate won’t cover the “hybrid” trims with the range extender.

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3. Smart Fortwo electric drive

As of the 2020 model year, Smart will no longer sell vehicles in Canada, so now’s your chance to buy what was the least expensive EV on our market. When new, the e-Fortwo retailed, before government rebates , for more or less $30,000. With the $4,000 used rebate, you can have one for less than $10,000. That said, you’ll be making do with a 130-km battery range and two seats.

4. Chevrolet Spark EV

If two places aren’t enough, the Chevrolet Spark offers four seats, and with a range as good as the Smart’s. Discontinued after the 2016 model year, the little hatchback is no longer available new. Luckily, more than 7,000 were sold in California, and right now you can find used exemplaires in Quebec for around $15,000.

5. Tesla Model 3

Yes, the Model 3 qualifies — next year. If the Roulez Vert program is still rolling this time next year, a used 2018 Tesla Model 3 will become eligible for a $4,000 used-EV rebate. Who wants one?

For more on electric vehicles, listen to Driving’s EV podcast Plugged In.

Plugged In is available on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , Stitcher , and Google Podcasts.