Transport Canada is looking into Tesla after it made a suspicious number of rebate requests on the last days of the Canadian EV incentive program.
A single dealership in Quebec would have delivered about 4,000 vehicles in a single weekend, which is physically impossible.
The Canadian government announced in January that it was running out of money for its up to $5,000 incentive program for the purchase of electric vehicles.
It was supposed to end in March, but in mid-January, the government started to warn consumers and dealers that money was running faster than planned and that it would need to end it by the end of January.
Unsurprisingly, it created a rush for people to take delivery by the end of the month.
Tesla is the most popular electric vehicle brand in Canada, so itβs not surprising that it benefited most from the temporary surge in demand. However, now that the numbers are coming in, some are becoming suspicious of some of the numbers Tesla is claiming.
According to a report from the Toronto Star, four Tesla locations claimed to have sold 8,653 electric vehicles in the last three days of the rebate. They filed for $43.1 million in rebates β more than half of the $71.8 million in remaining funds.
Teslaβs location in Quebec City alone filed more than 2,500 rebates in a single day and 4,000 over the weekend. Considering the location can hold only a few hundred cars and that the company needs to have delivered the vehicle to file the rebate, people are suspicious that Tesla could have actually delivered the cars when it says it did.
The suspicious surge in filings from Tesla has resulted in other dealers being stuck without rebates.
The Canadian Automobile Dealers Association (CADA) surveyed its dealers, and it found that they are stuck with 2,295 unreimbursed rebates worth about $10 million.
CADA spokesperson Huw Williams commented on the situation:
βThese dealers in good faith gave customers the money for a program that is always refunded. They shouldnβt be left making a payment on behalf of the Government of Canada.β
CADA has been pleading its case with Ottawa for the last few weeks and it is now going public through the Toronto Star report to put pressure.
Following the report, Transport Canada is reportedly looking into the situation. They wrote to CADA:
βThis report is unacceptable and I am asking the department that is responsible for administering this program to provide me with detailed and complete information.β
Williams claimed that βTesla gamed the system.β
Terry Budd, who owns 8 dealerships in Ontario, also doesnβt believe Tesla could have delivered that many vehicles:
βThereβs no way they delivered or sold that many cars in a weekend. They cleared everyone else out.β
The Canadian dealers are still waiting to see if they will be reimbursed on the roughly 2,000 EVs that they delivered.
Electrekβs Take
Tesla was obviously going to be the one to deliver the most EVs amid the surge to take advantage of the incentive. Thereβs no doubt about that.
The automaker is also used to delivery rushes, which generally happen at the end of quarters, but it can certainly muster up more capacity at the end of January also.
However, I have to admit that I also found those numbers suspicious. 2,500 vehicles in a single day and 4,000 in a weekend at Teslaβs single location in Quebec City? It makes no sense.
Maybe Tesla delivered more vehicles in the last few weeks and filed the rebates in big batches, but even then, it would raise eyebrows.
