California's EV Rebate Won't Apply To All Cars. These 13 Automakers Qualify

• Thirteen automakers are participating in California's EV incentive program.
• The program provides a $3,500 instant rebate on qualifying new EVs and a $1,750 rebate on qualifying used EVs.
• Eligible new cars must cost under $50,000, while used EVs must cost under $25,000 to receive the discount. Unless they're Rivians or Lucids.

California is launching a revamped EV rebate program. After the feds axed their tax credit program last fall, Governor Gavin Newsom said the state would step up to provide a replacement incentive. It won't be quite as generous as the federal incentive and—as we learned today from a press release from the governor's office—it won't apply to all brands.

For background, California plans to offer EV buyers up to $3,500 in instant rebates toward the purchase of a new electric vehicle and up to $1,750 toward the purchase of a used one. These credits are applied automatically at the point of sale, and are available for new vehicles with a price below $50,000 and used vehicles priced at under $25,000. California's home-grown automakers, Lucid and Rivian, are excluded from the price cap. 

Every Rivian you can currently buy goes for over $50,000. But lucky for the brand, California carved out a specific exemption to the price cap for EV automakers based in the state. That gives Lucid and Rivian an advantage.

Photo by: Mack Hogan/InsideEVs

But most brands aren't, which is why it's not surprising to see so many luxury and high-end manufacturers off the list. Here are all thirteen participating automakers:

• Ford
• General Motors
• Honda
• Hyundai
• Kia
• Lucid
• Mitsubishi
• Nissan
• Rivian
• Subaru
• Tesla
• Toyota
• Volvo

Scan the list and you'll notice that it's missing a few brands that offer EVs. Dodge, Jeep, Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Volkswagen, and Maserati aren't participating. There's a clear reason why: Of all of these companies, only Mercedes has an in-production EV that starts under $50,000. Given that its cheapest CLA 250+ with zero options goes for $49,400, you can see why the company didn't bother dealing with the paperwork. 

The Mercedes CLA 250+ EV technically starts below the $50,000 price cap, but barely. It's no wonder why Mercedes isn't bothering to participate. 

Photo by: Mack Hogan/InsideEVs

Perhaps more notably, there are a few companies on the list who also don't make any qualifying EVs. The Honda Prologue will end production later this year, leaving Honda without any new cars to sell through the program. The Volvo EX30 was canceled over this year, leaving Volvo's cheapest EV—the EX40—with a $56,545 starting MSRP. Cheaper models are supposedly on the way, though, so maybe the credit will become more relevant.

The good news for Californians is that almost every automaker with a qualifying model is participating. That wasn't a given, as the rebate is a funds-matching program. For the new vehicle tax credit, $1,750 comes from the automaker itself, while the other $1,750 comes from state matching funds. That made it an open question as to how popular the program would prove with manufacturers.

Fiat is the only company with a sub-$40,000 EV that isn't participating. I've reached out to the company to ask why it isn't part of the program. 

Only two companies with models far below the price limit seem to be sitting out. Mini makes the Countryman SE, which starts at $46,550, but is not participating. Perhaps, with options, many Countryman SEs end up over the cap anyway, but it's unclear. But Fiat's the real outlier: The 500e starts at $38,395, and you can't even option it above $50,000. I've asked both companies for clarification and will update this story if I hear back. 

It's also unclear just how the used EV rebate will work. The used EV rebate is ostensibly funded by automaker matching funds as well, though why an automaker would pay for you to buy a used vehicle—from which it typically does not directly profit—instead of a new vehicle is beyond me. But if that is how it works when the program launches later this year, I'd expect some weird effects on the market. If $24,000 used Tesla Model 3s are eligible for the credit but $24,000 used BMW i4s aren't, that's going to lead to some strange dynamics.

It's too early to say how that will play out. But we'll have more reporting on the credit in the coming days and weeks, as we try to piece together how this whole plan will work.

Contact the author: Mack.Hogan@insideevs.com