Oregon’s popular electric vehicle rebate program is back.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality’s Oregon Clean Vehicle Rebate program is set to reopen on May 22, with a focus on helping low to moderate-income households purchase or lease new or used EVs.

For the past two years, the program has had to halt rebates after running out of state funding, reflecting the increased popularity of EVs. Now, the agency will use a boost of federal dollars to bring rebates back.

Vehicles purchased before May 22 will not qualify for rebates. As of now, there is no set date for when the program will close, but DEQ officials said they’ll give a 30-day notice before it closes when funds start to run low.

Jeff Allen, executive director of Forth Mobility, encouraged people to take advantage of the program while it’s available. Forth is a nonprofit dedicated to increasing equitable access to electric transportation.

“Especially with federal support uncertain, Oregon is leading the way by continuing to invest in equitable, state-level incentives like Charge Ahead,” he said in a statement. “This renewed rebate helps families make the switch without breaking the bank.”

The program now has three rebate options:

• The Standard Rebate offers up to $2,500 back to anyone who purchases or leases a new qualified battery electric vehicle or plug-in hybrid under $50,000. The rebate now also applies to qualified zero-emission motorcycles. This is open to EV buyers at any income level.

And for people with household incomes from $51,000 to $251,000:

• The New Charge Ahead Rebate offers up to $7,500 back for people who purchase or lease a qualifying new vehicle.
• The Used Charge Ahead Rebate offers $5,000 rebates to people who purchase or lease an eligible used battery electric or plug-in hybrid electric vehicle.

People who are planning on purchasing a vehicle are encouraged to get pre-qualified by filling out an application first, DEQ’s Oregon Clean Vehicle coordinator Erica Timm said.

“If they’re qualified for the Charge Ahead Rebate, it also gives them a voucher that can be used at a participating dealership when they purchase or lease their electric vehicle,” she said. “It takes the rebate essentially directly off the price of the car. If the participant is purchasing or leasing their eligible electric vehicle from a non-participating dealer, they can also use that voucher when applying for the rebate after the purchase or lease is complete.”

Electric vehicle sales in Oregon are steadily increasing across the state. As of January, there were more than 112,000 zero-emission vehicles registered in Oregon, according to data from the Oregon Department of Energy. Oregon, along with nine other states, recently met a goal they collectively set in 2013, to get 3.3 million EVs on the road by this year.

Since its inception in late 2018, the rebate program has been helping people make the switch from gas-powered vehicles to EVs.

So far, Oregon has issued $99.6 million in rebates — about $66 million in Standard Rebates, about $9.4 million in Charge Ahead Rebates and about $24 million in combined rebates to qualified Oregonians.

Those combined rebates reflected a previous policy of offering lower income-linked incentives by allowing people to stack both Charge Ahead and Standard rebates. Rebates are no longer stackable, Timm said. Instead, Charge Ahead incentives are higher — allowing buyers to get the same total rebate as before through a simpler process.

Because of the popularity of these rebates and Oregon’s recent history of running out of funding within a couple of months each time it opens to new applications, there are efforts in the current legislative session to revamp the program by only allowing qualified low-income residents to participate. DEQ’s Timm said the agency plans on using about $4 million from this year’s funding allocation to pay Oregonians who made qualified purchases when the program was previously open, but who did not get their rebate due to insufficient funds.

The Oregon Clean Vehicle Rebate Program has so far been funded through the state’s Vehicle Privilege Tax. The Department of Environmental Quality receives at least $12 million or 45% of tax collections, whichever is greater, to fund the program.

But this year, the program will receive an additional $31 million for Charge Ahead Rebates, Timm said. It’s part of the $197 million Oregon was awarded through the federal Climate Pollution Reduction Grant.

“We’re hoping to keep that program open longer this year and distribute more Charge Ahead Rebates than ever before, and that helps more low and moderate-income households access the EVs,” she said. “Then with that grant money dedicated to the Charge Ahead Rebates, we’re hoping to apply more of the Vehicle Privilege Tax state funds to the Standard Rebate to also keep that program open longer this year.”

Applicants have six months after the purchase or lease of their eligible vehicle to submit an application for any of the rebates.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/05/05/oregon-electric-vehicle-program-rebate-evs-cars-environment/