Quebec brings back EV incentives, but adds registration fees

While electric vehicles are facing strong headwinds throughout North America — and Canada had suspended its federal $5,000 incentive for new EV buyers — most were expecting Quebec would also take advantage of its 2025-2026 budget to pull the plug on its own provincial rebates for battery-driven new cars. After all, the province had temporally suspended its Roulez Vert program because the coffers from which the subsidies were drawn ran out of money.

So it was a bit of a surprise when Quebec’s Minister of Finance, Eric Girard, yesterday announced that the provincial EV incentives will once again be made accessible to consumers as of April 1, 2025, “to continue supporting the electrification of transportation.” The government maintained that those rebates will be available as long – and at the same level – as stipulated in last year’s budget of the Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ).

So how much of a rebate can Quebec EV buyers get?

The maximum provincial rebates scheduled for buying (or leasing) an EV in 2025 will be back next week, as if they never disappeared in February and in March.

• $4,000 for new fully electric or fuel-cell vehicles (for vehicles with an MSRP less than $65,000);
• $2,000 for new plug-in hybrid vehicles (with the same less-than-$65,000 MSRP stipulation);
• $2,000 for used eligible fully electric vehicles; and
• $1,000 for electric motorcycles.

As announced in last year’s Quebec budget, those incentives will decrease in 2026, until they stop being offered altogether on vehicles registered on or after January 1, 2027.

No word yet if the Roulez Vert program will modify its eligible vehicles list in order to exclude Tesla models, as several other Canadian provinces recently have. Such a decision may be made sooner than later; with U.S. President Trump’s waves of tariffs threats, pressure is building across Canada to boycott American products in general (and Elon Musk’s vehicles more specifically).

Chrystia Freeland, the new Minister of Transport, also announced March 25 that Tesla EVs will be barred from eligibility for any future federal EV-rebate programs.

How much money is Quebec “budgeting” for EVs?

The “closed budget envelope for 2025-2026” EV rebates hasn’t been disclosed by the Quebec government. As usual, the government will let its Minister of the Environment, Benoit Charette, unveils those “details” later this spring, at its annual presentation of the 2030 Plan for a Green Economy.

That said, the Coalition Avenir Québec government indicates its “2025-2030 Implementation Plan will receive $10.2 billion in funding for combating climate change, representing an increase of approximately $200 million compared to the previous plan.”

Since the creation of Roulez Vert in 2012, Quebec says it has granted over 376,000 rebates for the purchase (or lease) of electrified vehicles, at a total cost of nearly $2.3 billion. One-third of this sum ($797,639,000) was allocated in the last fiscal year; following the government’s announcement it would gradually abolish EV rebates, Quebec consumers rushed to dealerships in a move that emptied provincial coffers faster than planned.

Starting in 2027, EVs will be subject to Quebec’s luxury tax

Since 2018, electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles have been exempted from Quebec’ taxe de luxe, at least for the portion of their market value between $40,000 and $75,000. But this exemption for electrified vehicles will be withdrawn at the end of 2026. At the same time, the threshold will be increased for all vehicles.

Let’s remember that for almost three decades now, la Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) charges an additional fee for l’immatriculation of vehicles over $40,000. But “due to significant growth in vehicle prices”, the government will raise this threshold to $62,500. Essentially, says the government, even if EVs are no longer kept out, “most basic electric vehicles will remain exempt from this tax.”

The new budget estimates raising the luxury-tax threshold will cost $97.8 million by fiscal year 2029-2030.

“The rapid growth in the number of [EVs] on the road in Québec and the convergence toward price parity between combustion and electric vehicles show that this exemption is no longer necessary,” explains the budget documentation.

Électromobilistes will pay extra for their EV registration

Following the lead of Saskatchewan and Alberta, Quebec will be the third Canadian province to introduce a tax on EV owners. This will “ensure greater fairness among motorists,” claims the government: “Since revenue from the specific tax on fuel is set to decline in the coming years [with the increase of EVs on Quebec roads], new sources of revenue must be determined to ensure the sustainable funding of transportation infrastructure and services.”

Therefore, starting January 1, 2027, an additional $125 fee will be due when registering an electric vehicle at the SAAQ (and half this sum [$62.50] will be requested when registering a plug-in hybrid). The CAQ estimates this fee will generate nearly $380 million in additional revenues by 2029-2030, adding “these amounts are still lower than those paid by the majority of motorists for the specific tax on fuel” that funds Quebec roads and public transit.

In another shift in policy, starting in two years (more specifically, April 1, 2027) the green licence plates worn by electrified vehicles will no longer give them free access to toll bridges in Montreal area, nor to Société des traversiers du Québec’s fare-based ferry services.

This is a perk EV owners have enjoyed for more than a decade, but “the rapid growth in the number of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles on Québec roads since 2023 means that this measure is no longer necessary,” claims the government. This change will generate another additional $25 million in revenue each year says the CAQ.

If we’re reading the CAQ’s intentions right here, the feeling is that electric vehicles are now popular enough that they require less subsidization than in years past. Nonetheless, it appears purchase rebates are still required, since ZEVs remain more expensive than their ICE counterparts.