California to offer $3,500 EV rebates to first-time buyers

California rebates for electric vehicles are coming back.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation on Monday that offers $3,500 for first-time buyers of EVs that cost $50,000 or less. There's also a rebate of $1,750 for first-time buyers who purchase a used electric vehicle with an MSRP of up to $25,000.

The governor's office said Californians can take advantage of the rebates "later this summer," but did not give a specific date.

The new Golden State initiative, called the MyFirstEV program, comes in reaction to last year's 940-page federal budget legislation dubbed the "One Big Beautiful Bill" passed by Republicans on Capitol Hill and signed into law by President Donald Trump. It included provisions that eliminated the federal tax credit of up to $7,500 on the purchase or lease of a new EV and $4,000 for a used one.

"Donald Trump is doing everything in his power to pollute our air and surrender the clean car industry to China on a silver platter," Newsom said in a statement. "California is putting its foot on the accelerator. With our new instant rebate program for electric vehicles, we're making it easier for families to drive clean, breathe clean, and keep more money in their pockets."

When asked for a reaction, a White House spokeswoman fired back, calling the governor "Newscum."

Taylor Rogers in an email to the Union-Tribune said Newsom "is carrying on with the Biden administration's failed energy policies by wasting Californians' hard-earned taxpayer dollars to subsidize electric vehicles. President Trump rolled back the left's very unpopular and costly nationwide EV mandate and restored consumer choice."

While visiting the headquarters of Rivian Automotive, Newsom signed Senate Bill 168 that earmarks $135.5 million for the rebate program that will be matched on a dollar-for-dollar basis by automakers who choose to participate in the program, meaning MyFirstEV could deliver $270 million in total.

There's also an interesting clause within SB 168 that benefits zero-emissions carmakers Rivian and Lucid.

The legislation says "incentives under the (rebate) program shall be provided to California-headquartered zero-emission vehicle companies regardless of the vehicle manufacturer's suggested retail price or sales price."

That means that all vehicles from Rivian and Lucid qualify for the $3,500 rebates, even though Rivian's least expensive model costs about $58,000 and Lucid's cheapest offering runs around $71,000. Rivian is based in Irvine, and Lucid is headquartered in the Bay Area city of Newark.

Tesla, meanwhile, moved its production headquarters from California to Texas in December 2021. That means Tesla will not receive the MSRP exemption - although it can take part in the rebate program with $50,000 limits for new EVs and $25,000 for used vehicles, if it chooses to do so.

The California Air Resources Board will administer the MyFirstEV program. CARB expects to announce next month which car companies will take part and provide more details on how the initiative will work.

The one-time funding is tied to the state's 2026-27 budget. A spokesperson for CARB told the Union-Tribune the dollars allocated to the new program will "be available until funds are exhausted."

That would mean that upon its launch, it would be wise for potential buyers to move relatively quickly to take advantage of the rebates before the money for the program runs out.

"We expect strong demand," the CARB spokesperson said in an email.

Brian Maas, president of the California New Car Dealers Association, said his members welcome the rebate program's rollout.

"Anytime we're talking about an incentive program for EVs or vehicles in general, that's a good thing," Maas said. "You'd much rather have the carrot than the stick, and that encourages consumers to think about (buying) these vehicles."

After the federal EV tax credit expired last year on Sept. 30, sales of zero-emission vehicles in California took a major hit, slumping 40.2% in the first quarter of this year, compared with the first three months of 2025.

Second-quarter numbers are expected to come out in about a week to 10 days.

California used to have a rebate program that operated for more than a decade. Called the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project, it offered thousands of dollars to buyers of EVs, plug-in hybrids and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. But the program was discontinued in late 2023

The rebates ended in late 2023 because of a lack of funding due to a combination of greater EV adoption rates and a drop in gas tax revenue that threatened state road repair funds.

California has more zero-emission vehicles on the road than any other state. According to the California Energy Commission, registrations topped 2.61 million as of May. That number included 2.02 million battery-electric vehicles, almost 572,000 plug-in hybrids and 18,532 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

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This story was originally published July 14, 2026 at 3:29 PM.