As of July 1, certain customers who purchase fully electric vehicles can apply to the Illinois Environmental Protection
Agency (IEPA) for a $4,000 rebate ($1,500 for electric motorcycles). The rebate is not “cash on the hood” like a manufacturer rebate and some customers will not qualify for the rebate, so here is what dealers need to know:

• The rebate applies only to purchases, not to leases.
• The rebate is available only to customers who purchase from Illinois dealers and register their qualifying EVs in Illinois and maintain Illinois registration for at least 12 months.
• The rebate can be used for the purchase of new and used vehicles, but only once for the lifetime of the vehicle and the rebate cannot exceed the vehicle purchase price. IEPA will create a database of VINs for which the EV Rebate has been claimed.
• A customer who claims an electric vehicle rebate is ineligible to claim another rebate for 10 years. When applying for a rebate, the customer will be required to certify he or she has not received a rebate within the past 10 years.
• The EV Rebate Program prioritizes awarding rebates to “low-income” purchasers (defined below). IEPA will
  prioritize low-income customers by issuing rebates starting 90 days after the July 1 effective date, first to qualifying low-income customers in the order in which applications are received and then, if there are still funds available, by issuing rebates to qualifying non-low-income customers in the order their applications are received. Customers must submit their applications within 90 days of the date of delivery (not the date the customer put down a deposit). If funds are not available during a 90-day cycle when a customer’s application comes up for review, then the application will be rejected. Rejected applications will not get carried over to the next cycle.
• The program defines “low-income” customers as those whose income does not exceed 80% of the State median income as established by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Currently, individuals earning up to $42,500 per year and couples earning up to $55,000 per year meet the definition of “low-income.”
• There is no guarantee that a rebate application will be approved, but dealers can make a semieducated guess by checking the balance in the Electric Vehicle Rebate Fund, which is the funding source for the EV Rebate Program. The fund balance can be found on the Illinois Comptroller’s website at: https://illinoiscomptroller.gov. When the
  program opened, the Electric Vehicle Rebate Fund has a balance of $17,728,203.51, which is enough to fund 4,432 rebate applications. The Electric Vehicle Rebate Fund collects approximately $1 to $1.5 Million per year from fees, which would fund an additional 250-375 rebates per year after the initial balance is spent down.
• Additional information, including a rebate application and a tally of rebates that have been awarded, can be found in IEPA’s Electric Vehicle Rebate Page at: https://www2.illinois.gov/epa/topics/ceja/Pages/Electric-Vehicle-Rebates.aspx.

A NOTE ABOUT ADVERTISING

Dealers need to exercise caution if they elect to advertise the EV Rebate Program because some customers will not
qualify for the rebate and customers who do qualify for the rebate will not know they qualified until up to 90 days
after the purchase. IADA suggests that dealers who elect to advertise the rebate program treat it as a limited rebate. In other words, the EV rebate cannot be deducted from the advertised price. It must be shown as an additional discount that is available to qualifying customers.