Crikey! $6,000 Off EVs In QLD!
Good news for banana benders wanting to own an EV. The Queensland Government has increased their state’s rebate for new electric vehicles from $3,000 to $6,000. But that’s not the only good news. Their announcement contains three juicy bursts of electric mobility goodness:
- The EV rebate is increasing from $3,000 to $6,000 dollars.
- If you have already received the $3,000 rebate, you can apply to get the extra $3,000.
- The maximum cost of EVs receiving the rebate no longer includes delivery charges and has been increased from $58,000 to $68,000.
But there is a bit of sad news for rich buggers:
- While any Queensland household can receive the original $3,000 rebate for EVs, only those with a total gross household income of $180,000 or less can receive the $6,000 rebate.
That is unfortunate news for high-income earners. But as I’ve never made more than $179,000 in my life, I have no bloody sympathy for you.
Another bit of unfortunate news: I see no indication in either the media release or the Queensland Government page on the rebate that people who missed out on the rebate because they bought an EV between $58,000 and $68,000 can get it now. I presume they would say so if you could, so I don’t think it’s possible. But, if they have any sense, they’ll clarify this. If they don’t, there’s no harm in asking. Except for, maybe, being put on hold for two and a half hours.
The increase won’t start until July, but since you can still get it for an EV you buy now, this shouldn’t affect your purchase decision.
This is the picture the Queensland Government included with the media release. It named the minister in the middle but not the other two. In my opinion, that’s a bit bloody cheeky! This Honorable Nick de Brenni guy is just a politician, not bloody Charles Windsor — the King formally known as Prince. He’s just an elected manager, and a good manager recognizes the contribution of fellow workers.
Bullshit Politician-Speak
The media release gives three reasons for the increase in both the rebate and the maximum cost of vehicles it applies to:
- Making electric vehicles more affordable for hardworking Queenslanders.
- Increasing rebate eligibility and the amount for eligible Queenslanders.
- Opening the door for more accessibility to an even greater range of EVs.
That sounds good, but the first point is bullshit. You don’t have to be hardworking at all. You can be the laziest bastard north of Coolangatta, and you still have as much right to receive the rebate as someone who works 90 hours a week. It’s like they don’t even bother to check these things before setting their media releases free. In fact, being a lazy bastard and not having too much money coming in can be a benefit. I’ll explain why further below.
What the improved rebate will do is help the state meet its stated goal of all new car sales being zero emissions by 2036.
5 Rebates A Year For Bussiness
Individuals can get one EV rebate — ever! So if there are two adults in your household you could each get one EV and one rebate. Businesses can get up to five rebates per financial year. But they shouldn’t rely on the rebate being available long term.
Eligibility
For an individual to receive a rebate, they will need:
- A valid Queensland licence
- Queensland residence
- Proof of purchase
Note the rebate doesn’t come off the purchase price of an EV but is received after you buy it.
For an EV to be eligible for the rebate, it has to be:
- New — No second-hand vehicles, including dealer/demonstrator vehicles.
- A goddamn car — Motorbikes, large trucks, semis, e-bikes, and milk floats don’t count. Vans and light commercial vehicles are okay if they’re under 4.5 tonnes. Boats are right out.
- Zero emissions — This means the vehicle must not emit gases as part of normal operation. So no hybrids or plug-in hybrids. In practice, this means only full-battery electric vehicles can get the rebate. Technically, hydrogen-powered cars could be eligible, but none are currently available under the price maximum.
- Registered/purchased after March 16th 2022.
- Not leased — This is actually a big deal because it means you can’t combine the Queensland rebate with the Federal Fringe Benefits Tax Exemption for EVs.
Better Off Without It?
The EV rebate will be useful to many Queenslanders, but it’s not as useful as it seems because there will also be many who’ll be better off without it. This is because they can save more money by leasing to buy an EV and taking advantage of the EV Fringe Benefits Tax Exemption. This can only be done through a business, either one you work for or one you own. It can potentially save a person with a high income over $25,000 on the cost of a new EV. Because this can only be done through a lease it’s not possible to double up and receive the Queensland EV rebate as well.
I’m not an accountant, so take this with a grain of salt, but if you make more than around $50,000 a year and the Fringe Benefits Tax Exemption is an option, you may be better off using that than the $6,000 Queensland EV rebate. But there will still be plenty of people without this option who will benefit from the rebate.
I consider the Fringe Benefits Tax Exemption unfair in that it’s only useful to people with a decent amount of money coming in, so the increased Queensland rebate somewhat redresses this.
It May Not Last For Long
The Queensland Government has set aside $45 million for the EV rebate. So far, 1,135 rebates have been used already. Assuming they’ll all get the full $6,000, there’s only $38 million left. As EV purchases are rapidly increasing, the rebate may only be around for a couple more years. I expect many people will use the Fringe Benefits Tax Exemption instead, which may stretch out the supply, but I wouldn’t rely on it being around for too long.
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I think you mean the EV has to be registered/purchased after 16th March 2022, not before as stated in your post.
Source:-
https://www.qld.gov.au/transport/projects/electricvehicles/zero-emission-strategy
Yes, that was a stupid error on my behalf. Thanks for pointing it out. Much appreciated!
All good Ronald……
Wonder if NSW will follow suit???
At the moment, it’s only $3000 and for 25,000 BEVs/FCEVs. So far only 6203 rebates have been handed out as of 31st March 2023. About another 19,000 EVs to go…. hopefully I’ll be able to get one before the rebates run out in NSW.
https://www.revenue.nsw.gov.au/grants-schemes/electric-vehicle-rebate
The NSW rebates as at 31/5/23:
“As of 31st May 2023, 7,128 rebates have been paid out of the 25,000 rebates available for new eligible EV purchases with a dutiable value up to $68,750.”
you can combine the Queensland rebate with the fringe benefit tax exemption. You just don’t do it through a novated lease (which is the most expensive way to do it anyway). What you do is you get the business to purchase the car (and collect the rebate) and make it available to an employee to take home (giving rise to a fringe benefit).
This works really well if the person who owns the business is also the employee that gets to take the car home. It works even better if the employee is the wife or child of the business owner, as then the fringe benefit gets attributed to someone who is less likely to need to pay things like medicare levy (which the fringe benefit amount is used to calculate, even if the fringe benefit itself isn’t taxed.
What’s the good of a rebate now if the EV had to be purchased before March 16th 2022?
Sorry, that was my mistake! I should have written, “after March 16th 2022”. All fixed now.
Surely it is only for “hard working families”.
Is there a reason they didn’t open up the subsidy to second hand vehicles?
I’ve been looking at importing a Mitsubishi Minicab Miev from Japan and they can be bought with 50,000km for about 10 grand au but by the time you pay all the import fees they end up costing more like 17+ grand.
If they applied that 6 grand subsidy to the second hand market (which is going to be huge because of Ev longevity) it would vastly increase Ev uptake. I guess thats the MO of modern governments, giving money to those that least need it….
Then you won’t need to work, just simply transfer your EV to your wife and transfer back to you, again and again. Soon you will be millionaire
Because they want more EVs in Queensland (and Australia), not for EVs already in Australia to change hands. However, your point about importing a second-hand EV from outside Australia is worth proposing to your MP.
I’m not an accountant either but I believe you’re mistaken about the Fringe Benefits Tax Exemption only being useful to people making decent money.
Anyone that earns enough to need to pay tax can benefit from it. By ‘prepaying’ superannuation or public transport fares you can reduce your gross\taxable income. For someone on $45,000 that’s a maximum savings of $5,092 but hey any dollar in your pocket rather than politicians wallets is good right? 😀
Or am I conflating salary sacrifice with FBT?
I was only referring to whether or not it is worthwhile to use the QLD EV rebate or the FBT exemption for EVs and not other uses.
Matt in the comments above says there is a way to use both the QLD EV rebate and the FBT exemption. But involves getting a business to buy an EV and then making it available for your use. Unless you own the business yourself, that sounds tricky to me. But I’ll try it out tomorrow by asking Finn to buy one for me to use.
The newsletter e-mail has the wrong link for this article, directing here: https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/charging-multiple-electric-vehicles/?utm_campaign=sq_news_weekly&utm_content=230425%20weekly%20newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_source=getresponse
Thanks for pointing that out. I guess the damage is done now since the newsletter is out, but we’ll take care to get our links right in the future.
Hmm Ronald – what’s a ” Bussiness”? A business that sells busses?
“5 Rebates A Year For Bussiness”
WA is allowing buyers to go with Novated lease and get a $3K rebate along with the FBT that you get with the NL. IDK what is stopping the QLD govt to exclude this for QLD. 🙁
Do you know the answer, or have an easy explanation, to these questions?
1) What constitutes the purchase price to come under the threshold? Is it drive-away price minus what (GST, Taxes, Delivery and dealer costs, or what)?
2) If the purchase cost (see above) is $68,001 does this mean that you are eligible for $0.00 rebate or is there a pro-rata calculation?
In other words, is there a sliding scale for rebates or is it fixed to either $6,000, $3,000 or bugger all?
(1) My understanding is it’s what you pay for the car minus the dealer delivery charge. But would definitely be worth checking if this is correct if you intend to buy an EV that’s a little over $68,000.
(2) No pro-rata payments have been mentioned, so I’m sure they’re not available. It’s $6,000 or $3,000 or nothing.