Tesla Canada says its shady $43 million incentive grab was a misunderstanding
Tesla has sent a response to Transport Canada about its sudden incentive cash grab from March, stating that this is standard process and suggesting that the incentives were for backdated sales that Tesla hadn’t filed yet.
Until recently, Canada had a $5,000 incentive for electric vehicle purchases, similar to the US $7,500 federal incentive from Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.
That ended earlier this year, though as the incentive program ran out of money more quickly than expected, and it didn’t look like the government was going to refill the program anytime soon. Canada is also currently going through a contentious federal election process, so it was unlikely for its government to move on refilling this incentive while things are shaken up.
So, the government communicated in January that the program would run out of money soon – very soon – giving dealers only a few days to claim incentives.
Then in March, it was reported by the Toronto Star that something suspicious had happened with Tesla, as it had filed for 8,653 EV sales within the last 72 hours of the Canadian rebate incentive, an abnormally high number.
One Tesla locations in particular, Quebec City, claimed 4,000 rebates over the course of a weekend, which is physically impossible for a location of that size, and represents about a ~20x spike in daily deliveries for the location. Another location in Etobicoke reportedly claimed 2,528 rebates over the weekend, which is more than all the rebates that location had previously claimed combined.
The alarm was raised by the Canadian Auto Dealers Association, which said its dealers as a whole had been left out of around $10 million in rebates representing 2,295 cars. Dealerships claimed that “Tesla gamed the system” and that “they cleared everyone else out.”
As a result of this, on March 25 Tesla had $43 million in rebates frozen as the government investigated what went on with this sudden spike in incentive filings.
Fast forward to now, and Tesla Canada has responded to the back-and-forth claiming that it didn’t do anything weird, simply filed a number of backlogged applications, as is normal for the program.
In a letter dated March 28 obtained by Electrek, Fereshteh Zeineddin, Tesla’s director of sales and service for Canada, says that Tesla’s filings were normal and that Transport Canada, the government office responsible for administering the incentive program, should know better.
The incentive is structured such that a dealership can offer a discount upfront to customers, then get reimbursed later by the government after filing for that incentive. Which Tesla points out means these are not grants to Tesla, but rather grants to Canadian customers which are then handled by Tesla.
Tesla claims that backlogged filings have always been allowed, and says that it has always complied with program rules and has had good standing with the Canadian government as a result.
However, Tesla does not specifically state in the letter how many of its weekend filings were for backdated sales.
Tesla says it was “shocked” that it didn’t hear about the incentive investigation directly from the government, and instead had to learn about it through the media. It suggests that it might pursue legal action if payments aren’t resumed, though that it does understand that it may not get payments for every delivery depending on program funding.
Finally, Tesla plays the victim in the letter, saying that as a result of Transport Canada’s investigation into these incentive filings, Tesla employees have suffered negative public perception and are increasingly facing harassment and verbal abuse by Canadians.
Electrek’s Take
We’re still skeptical of Tesla’s incentive claims, even after reading the letter.
The thousands of incentives filed over the course of one weekend would represent several months of incentive backlog. While disorganization is nothing new for Tesla, it still does seem questionable that Tesla’s 1,400-employee Canadian subsidiary would ignore tens of millions of dollars of revenue for several months.
And complaints about a lack of communication from the government could fall under that same umbrella – if Tesla is truly disorganized enough to leave these tens of millions on the table, maybe they’re also disorganized enough not to receive communication from the government regarding the incentive program.
Tesla does, after all, have no communications department and recently lost its head of policy who had previously been acting as an impromptu communications department on twitter. Instead, Tesla now uses the twitter feed of its CEO as its primary form of communication, but he’s apparently too busy literally defending Hitler instead of managing the company that made him the vast majority of the wealth that he is now channeling into anti-EV entities.
So, surely the reason for Tesla’s negative public perception in Canada is all because of this Transport Canada investigation, and it couldn’t possibly have any other source… right?
Tesla’s policy personnel and overseas employees are definitely having to walk a thin line right now, and this seems like another example of that.
Currently, public perception of the company is down specifically because of its CEO, Elon Musk, who seems determined to embarrass himself in public every day and bring his company down with him.
He’s attached his own persona to Tesla so loudly and publicly over its existence that the two are inextricable in the minds of many – we even quite often hear people refer to Tesla, a company that has over a hundred thousand employees, as “he,” rather than the proper “it” or “they,” with people using Elon Musk himself as synecdoche for the entire company (which he barely does any work at).
But Tesla employees can’t say that, because it is also well known that Musk has a vindictive management style, and that anything that is even perceived as a lack of support can result in retaliation (remember when we were blocked by a so-called first amendment lover for protecting his customers?).
So they’re having to walk a thin line right now – advocating for Tesla’s interests without pointing out the elephant in the room, which is that the company is being run by an idiot who is determined to run it into the ground while also doing all he can to spread white supremacy around the globe.
More specifically, Canadian public perception of Tesla is down more than most due to Musk’s close association with convicted felon Donald Trump, who recently wandered back into the Oval Office (despite that there exists a clear legal remedy for insurrectionists), and who has been working to shatter the close friendship between US and Canada by restricting the free trade of goods across the longest border in the world.
Tesla knows this, as it submitted a letter to the US Trade Representative stating that Tesla could become target of retaliatory tariffs, and it already has.
This incentive pause is one of those examples. Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s transport minister, specifically mentioned the illegal tariffs imposed upon Canada as part of the government’s skepticism about these incentives:
No payments will be made until we are confident that the claims are valid. I also directed my department to change the eligibility criteria for future iZEV programs to ensure that Tesla vehicles will not be eligible for incentives so long as the illegitimate and illegal U.S. tariffs are imposed against Canada.
That’s not the only Canadian government representative who has made a similar statement about Tesla. When British Columbia Energy Minister Adrian Dix recently removed Tesla products from a charging incentive rebate program, he stated:
I thought they shouldn’t be made available on a public subsidy program right now. I don’t think anyone in British Columbia needs to be told why, and I think most people would support their removal from that list.
It’s ironic that Tesla’s incentive grab was pointed out by the Canadian dealer lobby. Dealer lobbies have long been the largest legal thorn in Tesla’s side, even moreso than the oil industry – while oil has done its fair share of propaganda to discredit electric cars, dealer lobbies have been responsible for stopping Tesla’s ability to sell in several areas, specifically in the US and also around the world, due to Tesla’s direct sales model which threatens traditional auto dealers.
The irony here is that Musk’s current political allies include auto dealerships, which are one of the most republican sectors in America. They are feeling more represented than ever on the federal level, which could lead to more trouble for Tesla’s sales model.
Another irony lies in Tesla’s mention of the 1,400 Canadians employed by Tesla. While those employees, like most Tesla employees, are either just doing it as a job or are truly interested in advancing EVs, that number does pale in comparison to the thousands of Canadian job losses already caused by the administration that Elon Musk is the world’s biggest monetary and rhetorical supporter of. And while some employees might still care about the mission, Tesla’s CEO doesn’t. So spare us the crocodile tears on that one.
So its clear that the “public perception” problem isn’t about one report, it’s about the one guy who we all know is the source of the public perception problem – and basically every other problem with Tesla right now.
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The Honda Ruckus has earned cult status thanks to its minimalist styling, exposed frame, and seemingly endless customizability. The scooter, also known in international markets as the Honda Zoomer, has spent years being seen as a blank canvas for scooter tuners, urban commuters, and anyone who just wanted something simple, small, and kind of weird to zip around town. A few years ago, Honda finally answered the call for an updated version by announcing and producing the “Zoomer e:”, which was an electric version of the Honda Ruckus. So where is it?
When Honda launched the all-electric version of the Ruckus, the Zoomer e:, back in 2023, many fans hoped it was only a matter of time before we saw it quietly glide onto U.S. streets.
But two years later, there’s still no sign of a stateside release, and no indication that Honda plans to change that anytime soon.
The Zoomer e: was first introduced in China in early 2023 alongside two other retro-inspired electrics: the Cub e: and Dax e:.
The Zoomer e: keeps the stripped-down, industrial look of the classic gas-powered Ruckus, but swaps the 49cc engine for a 400W rear hub motor and a 48V 24Ah battery (around 1.15 kWh).
It was originally given a top speed of a mere 25 km/h (15.5 mph) to keep it street legal as an electric bicycle in its first market of China, where it also came with functional but stubby pedals so riders could pretend it was actually pedalable.
The first version of the electric scooter claimed a range of up to 80–90 km (50–56 miles) from its removable lithium-ion battery, depending on conditions.
We’ve since seen the performance bumped up to 40 km/h (25 mph) top speeds when the scooter was introduced into the Philippines market, where the local L1B classification allowed for higher speeds. It’s fairly obvious that the performance can be software-tweaked by Honda depending on the market, though likely to a limit. To achieve speeds much higher than 25 mph, a motor and controller swap may be required, though neither would be complicated.
In other words, the electric Ruckus’ debut revealed an ultra-lightweight, street-legal runabout designed for countries with expansive low-speed e-bike laws. But in the U.S., these types of quasi-e-bikes that are actually scooters are few and far between. The same performance can be had from a $1,000 electric bicycle, and in fact, Class 3 e-bikes in the US can go nearly twice as fast as the original electric Ruckus.
So Honda obviously hasn’t been in a rush to bring its low-spec version of the bike to the US market, where it would be a slower and heavier competitor to the wide range of cheap imported electric bicycles. However, its iconic design and cultural legacy have kept enthusiasm up for riders who have managed to privately import their own models. One Redditor appears to have imported two Honda Zoomer e: models in parts to assemble in the US, while someone else posted a YouTube video of his completely assembled Honda Dax e: model that was launched along the Zoomer e:.
Despite clear consumer interest and a growing market for low-speed electric vehicles, as well as Honda’s own proven interest in growing its electric scooter market, the company hasn’t made any moves to release the Zoomer e: in the US. That’s not surprising since America still lacks a robust electric scooter culture (or even a gasoline scooter culture, for that matter), and anything motorcycle-shaped that doesn’t hit 30+ mph tends to get passed over by mainstream buyers.
But perhaps that could change one day. Technically, bringing the Zoomer e: to the US wouldn’t be a monumental task for Honda. The U.S. is a self-certify country, meaning Honda could design a version that meets federal vehicle safety standards, beef up the motor and controller for higher speeds, and sell it as either a Class 2/3 e-bike, or perhaps more appropriately, as a low-speed motorcycle with a top speed in the 35-45 mph range (55-70 km/h).
With the rise of micromobility, electrification, and growing frustration with car-centric cities, now might actually be the perfect time for a reborn electric Ruckus to hit US roads. But until Honda decides to take that step, American riders will have to keep dreaming – or start importing.
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BMW Motorrad’s futuristic electric scooter just got its first real refresh since beginning production in 2021. The BMW CE 04, already one of the most capable and stylish electric maxi-scooters on the market, now gets a set of upgraded trim options, new aesthetic touches, and a more robust list of features that aim to make this urban commuter even more appealing to riders looking for serious electric performance on two wheels.
The BMW CE 04 has always stood out for its sci-fi styling and high-performance drivetrain. It’s built on a mid-mounted liquid-cooled motor that puts out 31 kW (42 hp) and 62 Nm of torque. That’s enough to rocket the scooter from 0 to 50 km/h (31 mph) in just 2.6 seconds – quite fast for anything with a step-through frame.
The top speed is electronically limited to 120 km/h (75 mph), making it perfectly capable for city riding and fast enough to hold its own on highway stretches. Range is rated at 130 km (81 miles) on the WMTC cycle, thanks to the 8.9 kWh battery pack tucked low in the frame.
But while the core performance hasn’t changed, BMW’s 2025 update focuses on refining the package and giving riders more options to tailor the scooter to their taste. The new CE 04 is available in three trims: Basic, Avantgarde, and Exclusive.
The Basic trim keeps things clean and classic with a Lightwhite paint scheme and a clear windshield. It’s subtle, sleek, and very much in line with the CE 04’s clean-lined aesthetic. The Avantgarde model adds a splash of color with a Gravity Blue main body and bright São Paulo Yellow accents, along with a dark windshield and a laser-engraved rim. The top-shelf Exclusive trim is where things get fancy, with a premium Spacesilver metallic paint job, upgraded wind protection, heated grips, a luxury embroidered seat, and its own unique engraved rim treatment.
There are also a few new tech upgrades baked into the options list. Riders can now spec a 6.9 kW quick charger that reduces the 0–80% charge time to just 45 minutes (down from nearly 4 hours with the standard 2.3 kW onboard charger). Tire pressure monitoring, a center stand, and BMW’s “Headlight Pro” adaptive lighting system are also available as add-ons, along with an emergency eCall system and Dynamic Traction Control.
BMW has kept the core riding components in place: a steel-tube chassis, 15-inch wheels, Bosch ABS (with optional ABS Pro), and the impressive 10.25” TFT display with integrated navigation and smartphone connectivity. The under-seat storage still swallows a full-face helmet, and the long, low frame design means the scooter looks like something out of Blade Runner but rides like a luxury commuter.
With these updates, BMW seems to be further cementing the CE 04’s role at the high end of the electric scooter market. It’s not cheap, starting around €12,000 in Europe and around US $12,500 in the US, with prices going up from there depending on configuration. However, the maxi-scooter delivers real motorcycle-grade performance in a package that’s easier to live with for daily riders.
Electrek’s Take
I believe that the CE 04’s biggest strength has always been that it’s not trying to be a toy or a gimmick. It’s a real vehicle. Sure, it’s futuristic and funky looking, but it delivers on its promises. And in a market that’s still surprisingly sparse when it comes to premium electric scooters, BMW has had the lane mostly to itself. That may not last forever, though. LiveWire, Harley-Davidson’s electric spin-off brand, has teased plans for a maxi-scooter-style urban electric vehicle in the coming years, but as of now, it remains something of an undefined future plan.
Meanwhile, BMW is delivering not just a concept bike but a mature, well-equipped, and ready-to-ride electric scooter that keeps improving. For riders who want something faster and more capable than a Class 3 e-bike but aren’t ready to jump to a full-size electric motorcycle, the CE 04 hits a sweet spot. It delivers the performance and capability of a commuter e-motorcycle, yet with the approachability of a scooter. And with these new trims and upgrades, it’s doing it with even more style.
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If you’ve ever wondered what happens when you combine a fruit cart, a cargo bike, and a Piaggio Ape all in one vehicle, now you’ve got your answer. I submit, for your approval, this week’s feature for the Awesomely Weird Alibaba Electric Vehicle of the Week column – and it’s a beautiful doozie.
Feast your eyes on this salad slinging, coleslaw cruising, tuber taxiing produce chariot!
I think this electric vegetable trike might finally scratch the itch long felt by many of my readers. It seems every time I cover an electric trike, even the really cool ones, I always get commenters poo-poo-ing it for having two wheels in the rear instead of two wheels in the front. Well, here you go, folks!
Designed with two front wheels for maximum stability, this trike keeps your cucumbers in check through every corner. Because trust me, you don’t want to hit a pothole and suddenly be juggling peaches like you’re in Cirque du Soleil: Farmers Market Edition.
To avoid the extra cost of designing a linked steering system for a pair of front wheels, the engineers who brought this salad shuttle to life simply side-stepped that complexity altogether by steering the entire fixed front end. I’ve got articulating electric tractors that steer like this, and so if it works for a several-ton work machine, it should work for a couple hundred pounds of cargo bike.
Featuring a giant cargo bed up front with four cascading fruit baskets set up for roadside sales, this cargo bike is something of a blank slate. Sure, you could monetize grandma’s vegetable garden, or you could fill it with your own ideas and concoctions. Our exceedingly talented graphics wizard sees it as the perfect coffee and pastry e-bike for my new startup, The Handlebarista, and I’m not one to argue. Basically, the sky is the limit with a blank slate bike like this!
Sure, the quality doesn’t quite match something like a fancy Tern cargo bike. The rim brakes aren’t exactly confidence-inspiring, but at least there are three of them. And if they should all give out, or just not quite slow you down enough to avoid that quickly approaching brick wall, then at least you’ve got a couple hundred pounds of tomatoes as a tasty crumple zone.
The electrical system does seem a bit underpowered. With a 36V battery and a 250W motor, I don’t know if one-third of a horsepower is enough to haul a full load to the local farmer’s market. But I guess if the weight is a bit much for the little motor, you could always do some snacking along the way. On the other hand, all the pictures seem to show a non-electric version. So if this cart is presumably mobile on pedal power alone, then that extra motor assist, however small, is going to feel like a very welcome guest.
The $950 price is presumably for the electric version, since that’s what’s in the title of the listing, though I wouldn’t get too excited just yet. I’ve bought a LOT of stuff on Alibaba, including many electric vehicles, and the too-good-to-be-true price is always exactly that. In my experience, you can multiply the Alibaba price by 3-4x to get the actual landed price for things like these. Even so, $3,000-$4,000 wouldn’t be a terrible price, considering a lot of electric trikes stateside already cost that much and don’t even come with a quad-set of vegetable baskets on board!
I should also put my normal caveat in here about not actually buying one of these. Please, please don’t try to buy one of these awesome cargo e-trikes. This is a silly, tongue-in-cheek weekend column where I scour the ever-entertaining underbelly of China’s massive e-commerce site Alibaba in search of fun, quirky, and just plain awesomely weird electric vehicles. While I’ve successfully bought several fun things on the platform, I’ve also gotten scammed more than once, so this is not for the timid or the tight-budgeted among us.
That isn’t to say that some of my more stubborn readers haven’t followed in my footsteps before, ignoring my advice and setting out on their own wild journey. But please don’t be the one who risks it all and gets nothing in return. Don’t say I didn’t warn you; this is the warning.
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