Oregon is set to suspend one of its popular electric vehicle rebates next month due to lack of funds, weeks before federal EV incentives also expire.

Oregonians hoping to buy qualified new electric vehicles could potentially get up to $10,000 by stacking state and federal incentives, but for a limited window.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality will temporarily suspend its standard rebate on Sept. 9. The program offers up to $2,500 back to anyone who purchases or leases a new qualified vehicle for under $50,000.

Oregon’s EV rebates are likely to return next year when funding is again available. But a $7,500 federal tax cut for buyers of qualified new electric vehicles will end entirely on Sept. 30, due to the passage of President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill.

The standard rebate is part of the Oregon Clean Vehicle Rebate Program and is open to all EV buyers at any income level. This year, the program also offered qualified zero-emission motorcycles a $750 rebate.

“The Oregon Clean Vehicle Rebate Program continues to exceed all expectations and remains extremely popular with people across the state,” DEQ Air Quality Transportation Strategies Section Manager Rachel Sakata said in a statement.

“It is a great way for families and individuals to save money while choosing cleaner transportation and improving air quality.”

The program receives at least $12 million per year, or 45% of tax collections, whichever is greater, through Oregon’s Vehicle Privilege Tax.

It had a $6.7 million balance in May, after covering its administrative expenses and paying people who had purchased or leased EVs in 2024 and were on a rebate waitlist.

Since then, the remaining funds have been going to qualified EV buyers. There was about $512,000 remaining as of Wednesday.

“We look at the rebates that are coming in and we look at how much funding is remaining, and we aim to project how long we can keep the rebate program open,” DEQ’s Oregon Clean Vehicle Rebate Coordinator Erica Timm said.

“When we’re looking at the last couple of payment lists, we determined that our funding will be exhausted and we need to close the program by Sept. 9.”

Oregon’s EV rebates have become so popular that the state has repeatedly had to suspend the program after paying out all available funds. This year marks three consecutive years DEQ has had to pause standard rebates.

Oregon officially reopens popular EV rebate program

That back-and-forth closing and reopening of state rebates has had an impact on sales, Oregon Auto Dealers Association executive vice president Greg Remensperger said.

“We’re disappointed,” he said, of plans to again pause the state’s rebate program. “There’s no question that the rebates help sell EVs, and we’ve worked so hard to try and make the transition into it.”

Remensperger said the moment DEQ announced the rebates were set to reopen this year, people who had been holding off on making a purchase were ready to buy.

“If you look at the sales data that happened right after they opened up, there was a big surge of people coming through,” he said.

After that initial boost in sales, there was still a steady pace of sales coming through, he said.

Then came another boost when the Trump administration announced the end of the federal incentives, Remensperger said.

“There’s no question there’s a direct impact on it,” he said. “I think the hard part for us as dealers is when the rebate gets turned off, because you’re talking about a pretty sizable chunk of money when you’re talking about buying a vehicle, that people will just wait until it gets refunded again, and that’s the hardest part of turning it on, turning it off.”

Remensperger said he hopes Oregon lawmakers find a way to keep the program funded year-round.

Anyone who purchases a qualified vehicle from May 22 through Sept. 8 can apply to receive the state’s standard EV rebate. Any purchases outside those dates are not eligible.

As of now, there is no waitlist for 2025 applicants.

But if the program runs out of money before Sept. 8, qualified applicants will be put on a waitlist. They’ll be paid out first when the program reopens, Timm said.

DEQ expects the program will resume offering standard EV rebates next spring. People can apply for one rebate per vehicle.

More than 115,000 EV or plugin hybrid electric vehicles are now registered across the state.

Federal EV incentives have also played a role in boosting EV sales. Through the passage of the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act in late 2022, households with low-to-moderate income could get up to $7,500 in federal tax credits for a new electric vehicle or $4,000 for a used one.

With federal EV support uncertain, Oregon lawmakers consider revamping the state’s popular rebate to prioritize lower-income buyers

At the time, qualified Oregonians could stack both federal and state incentives and potentially receive up to $15,000 for a new electric vehicle.

The Oregon Clean Vehicle Rebate Program has issued more than $104 million in rebates since the program’s inception in late 2018. More than $67 million of those funds have gone to standard rebate applicants.

Even when standard rebates temporarily close in September, the state will continue offering income-based rebates through its “charge ahead” program. Those are available to households with incomes between $51,000 and $251,000. Those rebates are:

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

Those rebates are expected to remain open until the end of the year, Timm said.

As more funding is dispersed, she said, DEQ will give the public a 30-day notice before that specific program closes to new applications.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/08/08/oregon-ev-rebates-limited-window/