Tesla has defrauded the Canadian government out of $43,000,000 in electric car rebates, and in the process, screwed other car dealerships out of a further $10,000,000.
It all stems from the Incentives for Zero-Emission Vehicles (iZEV) rebate program. In short, the iZEV program provided a $5,000 subsidy to Canadians buying electric cars. Participating dealerships would knock $5,000 off the price (to encourage customers to ‘go electric’) then, the dealerships would submit documentation to the federal government for reimbursement of the $5,000 they fronted to the customer.
Back on January 10 2025, Canadian dealerships were advised via email that the iZEV program (originally expected to run through mid-March) would be paused over the next few weeks, as cash allocated to the program ran out. That weekend, Tesla ‘claims’ to have sold 8,653 electric cars, netting Tesla $43,265,000 in government money. By Monday morning, the iZEV program was abruptly shut down as the deluge of phony Tesla sales completely emptied the iZEV system’s cash reserves. It’s possible that Tesla submitted thousand more requests for cash before the system when bust.
Making matters even worse, the last-minute Tesla scam triggered the rejection of 2,300 electric vehicle rebates submitted by other Canadian car dealerships. Those independently owned dealerships followed the program, gave customers $5,000 rebates at the time of sale, but will not be reimbursed $11,500,000 from the Canadian government, because Tesla already drained the cash out of iZEV.
Transport Canada is now investigating Tesla, because it is simply impossible to believe that Tesla sold as many vehicles in two days as it did in all of January, February and March 2024. It’s obviously a scam, like Tesla selling the cars to itself to claim the rebate.
The end of an incentive program ending would logically trigger sales. Customers ‘on the fence’ would have to act now or miss out. However, a single Tesla location claimed to have made 2,558 sales in a single day, which does not seem physically possible. If each customer was given 20 minutes for vehicle delivery, that’s like 70 employees simultaneously working 12 hours straight (without breaks) just to hand over those cars to customers.
It’s important to note that Tesla’s Canadian sales dropped 70% between December and January as the owner’s antics have drawn criticism from around the world. Why would anyone assume that Tesla’s claimed sales are genuine, when there is no holding the rich accountable for their illegal actions.
I believe these kinds of rebate scams happen all the time for cars and solar energy. Your Canadian example seems a rare case of the scam being so bold faced and transparent. These rebates are a subsidy for the richer people because most middle-income and no lower-income people can afford electric cars or solar panels, even with the rebates.
Tesla received billions of dollars in subsidies from the US government to develop electric cars. Instead of developing affordable electric cars, Tesla made cars tailored for the elite, and set the standard for unaffordable EVs followed by most automakers, leaving an affordable EV gap for China to fill. Now the US and Europe, and possibly Canada, have their panties in a wad over affordable Chinese EV imports.
I do not believe the government should mess with the market by giving subsidies. I am against social engineering through tax incentives. Let the market determine the type of cars people want to buy and drive.
Yes, perhaps what’s so disturbing about this scam is how obvious it is. That’s why it’s become national news on this side of the border… I mean HELL nobody can sell 2,000+ cars in a weekend.
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I am familiar with Tesla taking that US Gov’t subsidy to develop electric cars. What a joke on all of us that instead of an electric version of a Honda Fit sized vehicle (that could charge on a 110V household plug) an over-priced luxury car was the outcome.
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This is exactly what happens when you mess with the free market. It always ends badly.