Tesla is threatening legal action after the Canadian government froze more than $43 million in electric vehicle rebate payments under Canada’s iZEV program.
The company sent a letter to Transport Canada on March 28, demanding that payments resume “in the immediate term,” and accusing the government of unfairly cutting off funds with no prior warning. Tesla claims the decision came as a surprise and that it first learned of the freeze through media coverage, according to the letter obtained by the Toronto Star through an access to information request.
“Transport Canada knows full well that Tesla Canada has been fully compliant with its participation in the program,” the letter states. It goes on to say that Tesla “reserves all rights to seek appropriate remedies” if the issue can’t be resolved directly with the department.
The rebate program, which offers buyers up to $5,000 CAD ($3625 USD) off qualifying electric and hybrid vehicles, relies on dealers to front the discount and later apply for reimbursement. Tesla filed more than 8,600 rebate claims in a single weekend this past January, accounting for roughly 60% of the program’s remaining budget before funds ran out.
This rush left hundreds of independent dealers across Canada unable to recoup an estimated $10 million CAD they had already advanced to customers.
One of the key questions under review is whether Tesla’s claims followed the rule requiring rebate applications to be submitted before vehicle delivery. Tesla insists its filings were legitimate, citing previous guidance shared with dealers. “Filing assessments after vehicle delivery is entirely permissible,” the letter states, referencing a 2023 Transport Canada webinar and related documents that reportedly allowed for backdated claims.
Complicating matters, the freeze came shortly after a federal election was called, which typically triggers a “caretaker” period during which departments avoid major decisions. Tesla argues that the department should have continued issuing payments as usual. “Tesla expects the department to carry out its responsibility during the writ period to continue program delivery per status quo,” the company wrote.
Transport Canada has not responded publicly to Tesla’s claims. There is no indication yet when or if the frozen payments will be released.
What a scam. Four dealers "sold" 8653 cars in 72 hours? Please. Be funny if it wasn't so dirty. If Crooked Leon and his band of thieves think they're entitled to Canadian taxpayer's money they better think again. They even ripped off their own; legitimate sales by independent dealers were denied rebates because the crooked ones grabbed every last penny in the fund. Despicable, but very on-brand for Elmo.
If you believe that nonsense you just show yourself to be a brain dead headline reader and someone who just gobbles main stream media BS like a lemming going over a cliff. Do some independent research and you'll find the results to be quite different than painted. Sad how simple so much of our population can be.
Lol “fake news” muskrat has an angry opinion. Quelle surprise ! Why the surge of 8600+ “sales” in the final 72 hrs? Either the dealerships are so incompetent that they allowed a backlog worth 10’s of millions by not getting around to filing the paperwork or they sold a car every 2 minutes in those 72 hours. You would have to be a complete moron to believe either scenario. My bet is they’re crooks, just like your hero, Chainsaw Elmo.
The result is simple. Dealers were told to submit post-sale (even though the program said otherwise, as there was no way to cancel a credit pre-sale, e.g. you say you will buy the car and then return it). The solution was to submit the credit post-sale. Now the government said credits are running out and you need to submit them ASAP, and Tesla worked all weekend to clear the backlog…. while private dealers took the weekend off and tried to submit them on Wednesday and were told the program is over.
This isn't a pro or anti-Tesla issue; it's an integrity issue. Canada has to do what it said it will do.
Highly skeptical that Tesla would let several months of claims pile up, leaving 10’s of millions of dollars of revenue unclaimed. Interest alone on $40M+ for several months would easily be in the seven figures, never mind that cash-flows are the lifeblood of any company.
They would have to be a breathtakingly, spectacularly poorly run company, which is possible I suppose, in theory anything is possible, but highly unlikely. Keep in mind also that it is the Canadian Auto Dealers Association that blew the whistle, with other dealer claiming Tesla gamed the system.
Bravo! As a Canadian I am miffed at our government for their stance against Tesla and Musk (even Starlink is getting abuse and needs to launch a few lawsuits…see Ontario), simply because of an affiliation to Trump. Absolutely brain rot thinking. I understand the tendency to fight back re: tariffs, I have always been staunchly patriotic, but you need to pick your battles and this is one that we can't win. Trump's entire exercise here is to get us to roll back unfair (at least what they see as unfair) tariffs and if we do so, they will roll back theirs. Instead, our David goes up against their Goliath not with a stone and a slingshot but with a peashooter. What Canada is doing here is punishing its own peoples all while making it harder for a North American EV industry to get strong enough to thwart total Chinese domination. Tesla is the only company capable of standing up to the Chinese. Mexico now has about 30% of all its new vehicles being Chinese…Canada is inviting the same ratio. Actually if they were successful at keeping out US made EVs, that 30% will be closer to 95%.