(The Center Square) – Washington state’s $45 million Electric Vehicle Instant Rebate Program for buying or leasing electric vehicles fell far short of promises to deliver environmental results and help middle-income people buy EVs, concluded a Washington Policy Center policy brief released on Wednesday.
According to the Washington State Department of Commerce, the program provided up to $9,000 off a new EV lease for low-income drivers at the point of sale. The state agency claimed this translates into lease payments under $200 a month, well below the average gas-powered automobile payment of more than $700 a month.
“Now that the data for vehicle registrations are in for the two-and-a-half months that it was working, we wanted to know did it work and did it achieve the goals?” queried WPC Vice President for Research Todd Myers during a Wednesday interview with The Center Square. “The answer is it fell far short of the promises that were made.”
Myers said the rebates were supposed to increase EV or plug-in hybrid electric vehicle sales by about 8,700, but they only accounted for about half of that – or 4,800 cars.
“The CO2 emissions were absolutely minuscule,” Myers noted. “For $45 million, we reduced emissions by .03%; that’s it, so virtually nothing for $45 million in taxpayer money.”
The program, announced by then-Gov. Jay Inslee last year on April 22 – Earth Day – promised to open the door to EVs for people with modest incomes.
“We found that’s not really true at all,” Myers said. “Before the subsidies went into effect, in April the average income of ZIP codes where cars were purchased was $122,000.”
The rebates began on Aug. 1 and were gone in less than three months
“During the period the rebates were being offered, that fell to about $118,000,” Myers said. “So, it’s basically much the same people who were buying electric vehicles before the subsidies who were buying them during the rebates – and they’re certainly not poor.”
WPC’s policy brief notes through October that “EVs and plug-in hybrids accounted for 21.8% of new vehicle sales in Washington, only slightly above the 2023 level of 20.5% and well below the 35% level that will be required in 2026.”
Myers explained that those purchasing vehicles during the rebate period could take advantage of large subsidies through the purchase or leasing of vehicles. He gave the example of someone with a 36-month lease.
“They got $9,000 from the state and another $7,500 from the federal government, for a total of $16,500 in free taxpayer money,” Myers explained.
According to WPC, the Tesla Model 3 was the most popular vehicle purchased during the subsidy program, and sales more than doubled based on 2024 sales prior to the rebates.
The Center Square contacted the Washington Department of Ecology for a response to WPC’s sharply critical policy brief.
“Washington is a national leader in the transition to clean vehicles, and more than one in five new vehicles sold in our state is now battery-electric or plug-in hybrid,” Andrew Wineke, Ecology’s deputy communications director, said in an email. “There are now more than 200,000 zero-emission vehicles on the road in Washington, a total that grew more than 30% in just the last year. If sales this year match the numbers we saw in 2024, we will easily clear the 2025 targets set in Washington’s zero-emission vehicle regulations.”
He continued: “Vehicle rebates are just one part of a suite of tools we’re using to accelerate the shift to clean vehicles, and we expect that progress to continue in the years ahead.”
Inslee’s outgoing budget request included another $82 million for a follow-up program for the current biennium.
The Center Square emailed Gov. Bob Ferguson’s office to find out if he would include a similar request in his budget proposal, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
