Some pricier cars and bigger zero-emissions pickups and SUVs — retailing for as much as $70,000 — will soon be eligible for a rebate under an expanded federal Incentives for Zero-Emission Vehicles Program (iZEV).
The new criteria outlined Friday will offer an unchanged maximum incentive of $5,000 for zero-emission cars whose base model price is less than $55,000. Higher cost variants up to $65,000 will also be covered by the iZEV program. This compares to base models and costlier variants retailing for, respectively, less than $45,000 and $55,000, under the previous framework.
Larger vehicles, such as SUVs, minivans and pickups, with base prices below $60,000 and variants priced up to $70,000 with options will also qualify. Previously, base model costs were set at $55,000 and vehicles were required to have seven or more seats.
The redesign of the program also eliminates a minimum seat count for larger vehicles, which will allow more pickups and SUVs to qualify. the changes go into effect April 25.