With the announcement of a $2,500 EV purchase incentive in its 2021 budget, Newfoundland and Labrador is the fifth province to offer EV buyers a second rebate to go with the federal incentive

Newfoundland and Labrador’s recent 2021 budget included a surprise announcement — an “Electric Vehicle Accelerator” purchase incentive. The provincial government says it will provide a $2,500 rebate for residents who purchase a new electric vehicle.

The program will initially receive $500,000 in funding, meaning that 200 consumers will be able to benefit from the rebate. According to takeCHARGE Newfoundland and Labrador, there are currently over 190 fully electric vehicles on the province’s roads and approximately 33 public chargers planned throughout the province, with 12 currently online and the remainder slated to go into operation this year.

The province’s rebate would be offered in addition to the federal government’s $5,000 EV rebate, which is available to all Canadians.

“Switching from a gas-powered to an electric vehicle is becoming an increasingly real option for consumers,” said Siobhan Coady, deputy premier and minister of finance in her budget speech. “We are supporting efforts to make electric vehicles more accessible and as a result, a fast-charging network is being installed across the province.”

Electric Autonomy reported on the start of construction on the provincial fast-charging network last summer.

More than 50 per cent rebate-friendly

The announcement of the program makes Newfoundland and Labrador the fifth Canadian province to currently offer such an incentive, alongside British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Quebec; Ontario’s new EV purchase incentive was discontinued in 2018. The Northwest Territories and Yukon both also offer territorial rebates for EV purchases.

Newfoundland and Labrador’s announcement officially makes Canada’s regional governments more than 50 per cent rebate-friendly. It also makes New Brunswick the final holdout province in the Maritime region to not have an EV purchase rebate. Nova Scotia and PEI both made their announcements earlier this year and also included an equity component: a rebate will also apply to used EV purchases. Newfoundland did not make any mention of used EV purchases.

The province’s budget also announced an incentive program to help transition homes currently heated solely by oil to electricity. That program will receive $1 million in funding in order to provide a $2,500 incentive to each customer.

The 2021 Budget, codenamed CHANGE, “marks a key step in beginning the transformation of Newfoundland and Labrador,” according to the government website.