Peninsula Clean Energy, a Community Choice Aggregation agency and the official electricity provider for San Mateo County in California, is expanding its program offering rebates to help first-time buyers of new electric vehicles.

The 2020 New EV Rebate Program will offer rebates of $1,000 towards the cost of a new fully electric vehicle and $700 for a plug-in hybrid purchased by San Mateo County residents between 1 October through 31 December. Eligible vehicles are any new EVs that have a purchase contract cash price of $45,000 or less, before sales tax.

Peninsula Clean Energy is also providing residents the opportunity to experience driving an EV with a $200 rebate toward the rental of an EV and assistance in setting up at-home or at-dealership test drives.

The expanded rebate program comes on the heels of California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s call for all new vehicles sold in the state to be zero-emission by 2035.

The 2020 EV Rebate Program expands on programs in 2019 and 2018 to allow San Mateo County residents to purchase from a wider range of vehicle models and from sellers outside of the county, including online sellers.

The 2020 program is limited to San Mateo County residents who have not previously purchased or leased an EV. The rebate is limited to one per person and two per household.

The rebates are part of a larger effort by Peninsula Clean Energy to spur EV use in San Mateo County and provide a model for the expansion of EVs elsewhere. That includes the recent launch of the EV Ready Program, a $28-million effort to install EV charging infrastructure at commercial workplaces, multi-family dwellings and other public locations. It is the largest EV charging infrastructure program tied to a single Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) agency and aims to install 3,500 charging ports in San Mateo County over the next four years.