Buying or Leasing a Pre-Owned Electric Vehicle? PG&E Electric Customers Can Apply for New Rebate of Up to $4,000

By Mike Gazda

PG&E today (Feb. 1) announced the launch of its Pre-Owned Electric Vehicle (EV) Rebate Program, providing qualified residential customers up to $4,000 when purchasing or leasing a pre-owned EV. The program aims to distribute more than $78 million to promote the adoption of EVs and make EV ownership more affordable for all customers.

Current PG&E electric customers may qualify to receive a $1,000 or $4,000 rebate, based on household income, when purchasing or leasing an eligible pre-owned all-electric vehicle or plug-in hybrid EV. To take advantage of the offer, interested customers must successfully submit a rebate application within 180 days of the date of purchase or lease. 

“This new rebate program addresses the continued growth of the pre-owned EV market with a focus on making EVs more affordable for all customers throughout our service area. Affordability can be a barrier to EV adoption, and this program will help offset costs for our customers who want to explore pre-owned EV ownership,” said Aaron August, PG&E Vice President, Utility Partnerships and Innovation.

The Pre-Owned EV Rebate Program is funded by the California Air Resources Board’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS), an initiative designed to reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change. PG&E earns LCFS credits for supplying low-carbon fuel in the form of electricity, and re-distributes funds generated from the sale of those credits through customer programs. The Pre-Owned EV Rebate Program has no impact on customer rates.

The rebate program is being implemented in partnership with the Center for Sustainable Energy.

Additional EV customer programs and incentives

PG&E offers a variety of tools, rebates and resources to help educate customers and encourage EV adoption. Customers are invited to check out PG&E’s EV Savings Calculator, an online resource to browse vehicles, discover incentives, locate charging stations and more. PG&E also offers an EV Rate Comparison tool to help customers find the best rate plan for them.

PG&E is preparing to launch additional EV programs in the coming months. Here are the programs currently available:

• PG&E’s EV Fleet Program helps customers with medium- and heavy-duty vehicles in their fleets to install cost-effective charging infrastructure to save money, reduce tailpipe emissions and simplify maintenance.
•  Through its EV Fast Charge Program, PG&E is funding and installing infrastructure at qualifying customer sites to support the expansion of publicly available fast-charging stations for light-duty vehicles.
•  PG&E’s EV Charge Schools Program is installing level 2 charging stations at school facilities and educational institutions for staff, parents and students to charge their EVs. PG&E helps fund the costs of purchasing and installing the EV charging equipment and networking fees at participating schools, as well as ongoing maintenance and operations. With at least 40% of the new chargers located in disadvantaged communities, the pilot is bringing EV charging options to customers who might not have had them before.

“The launch of the Pre-Owned EV Rebate Program directly aligns with our core focus of proactively preparing the grid for electric transportation, increasing access to EV infrastructure, and supporting EV adoption through rates, rebates, tools and education,” said August.

Nearly 500,000 EVs have been sold in PG&E’s service area, representing one in seven EVs in the country. As part of the 2030 targets outlined in PG&E’s Climate Strategy Report released last year, the company is preparing the grid to quickly and safely power at least 3 million EVs — or about 12,000 GWh of EV-related electric load. PG&E is also working to enable 2 million of those EVs to participate in vehicle-grid integration applications, allowing EVs to be a cornerstone of both electric reliability and climate resilience for PG&E customers broadly.