Quebecers who wish to take advantage of a state rebate to purchase a zero-emission vehicle had better hurry. In order to reduce its growing expenses in the Roulez vert subsidy program, François Legault’s government will gradually abolish it by January 2027.
The announcement was made Tuesday, from the 2024-2025 Quebec budget tabled by the Minister of Finance, Eric Girard. The disappearance of the program is planned for the 1er January 2027, but will have effects from next year. For a new “fully electric” car, the subsidy will increase from $7,000 in 2024 to $4,000 in 2025. Then, this amount will drop to $2,000 in the last year of application of the program.
For new plug-in hybrid vehicles, the subsidy will increase from $5,000 in 2024, to $2,000 in 2025, then to $1,000 in 2026. For used electric cars, the abolition of Roulez vert will be as follows: $3,500 this year, $2000 next year, $1000 the year after that. Subsidies for the purchase of terminals are extended beyond January 2027.
The popularity of Roulez vert has generated significant expenditure for the Quebec government this year. From the start of the fiscal year, in April 2023, to January of this year, approximately $400 million was disbursed to fund the program. In his latest Plan for a Green Economy (PEV), the Minister of the Environment, Benoit Charette, had nevertheless planned to release 244 million for Roulez vert in 2023-2024.
In the future, these amounts will be used more in other programs to combat climate change, believes Minister Girard. “Electric vehicle subsidies, in terms of dollars per ton [réduite]it was not the most effective spending,” he said Tuesday at a press conference, adding that the federal government also offered a $5,000 rebate.
Quebec is still far from its electrification objectives. The latest news was that around 240,000 electric vehicles were on Quebec’s roads, barely 10% of the Legault government’s objective for 2030 (two million zero-emission cars).
Low improvement of the “green plan”
Furthermore, the record revenues recorded in the carbon market this year — $1.5 billion — are not fully reflected in Tuesday’s budget exercise.
Minister Charette’s EPI, which will be updated this spring, has been increased by $300 million, to reach a budget of $9.3 billion over five years. Last year, the Legault government’s “green plan” allowed Quebec to achieve approximately 60% of its climate targets.
Minister Girard assures that all revenues from the carbon market “go into the Plan for a Green Economy”. However, it is impossible at present to know what part of the new funds obtained this year during the various auctions has already been spent and what part has accumulated in the coffers of the Electrification and Climate Change Fund (FECC ) — the new Green Fund.
In its last financial report, filed in March 2023, the FECC reported a surplus of approximately $1.7 billion. The most recent portrait of its finances is due to be released in the coming weeks.