Electric vehicle and battery storage company Tesla has been cut from programs including rebates for home EV chargers and household batteries in the Canadian province of British Columbia, as the blowback against CEO Elon Musk and the tariffs imposed by president Donald Trump continues.
The decision was announced on Thursday (Canada time) by British Columbia energy minister Adrian Dix, who said it came after a review of the scheme operated by the energy utility BC Hydro.
“I thought they [Tesla products] 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,” CBC reported Dix as saying.
According to local media reports, the exclusion of Tesla products includes EV chargers, energy storage batteries and inverters. BC Hydro said in a statement that it was giving preference in its rebate program to Canadian goods, while excluding “where practicable”, goods made in the US.
The move comes amid seething anger and outrage in Canada over Trump’s determination to make Canada the 51st state of the US, and to impose tariffs on its neighbour and closest ally to try and force the issue. Musk, who has described Canada as “not a real country” has been the target of consumer backlash because of his close association with Trump.
It is not the first time this has happened. The province of Ontario has already cancelled a $C100 million contract with Musk’s Starlink, and the city of Toronto has excluded Tesla from its own driver incentive program.
Some federal political leaders have suggested 100 per cent tariffs on Tesla cars, by far the best selling EVs in the country, while more than 200 car dealers have accused the company of gaming rebates in the Incentives for Zero-Emission Vehicles (iZEV) Program after four Tesla-run showrooms claimed a total of 8,653 EV sales in just 72 hours.
Meanwhile, protests continue. A petition to strip Musk of his Canadian citizenship has attracted more than 300,000 signatures, and protests at Tesla dealerships have turned ugly, with Tesla drivers reportedly threatened and abused. “Burn a Tesla – save democracy”, was one placard featured in the Canadian press this week.
The rebates were not significant – $C350 off the price of a home charger. But Tesla itself is clearly concerned about the impact of such actions, and its flow-through effects.
The company dominates the EV market in Canada, with more than 50 per cent of total sales in 2024, but according to Reuters, Tesla’s policy team has sent a letter to the US government warning that the company could become the target of retaliatory tariffs amid Trump’s trade war.
“U.S. exporters are inherently exposed to disproportionate impacts when other countries respond to U.S. trade actions,” Tesla wrote in a letter to the US Trade Representative’s Office.
“For example, past trade actions by the United States have resulted in immediate reactions by the targeted countries, including increased tariffs on EVs imported into those countries.”
Tesla is exposed in the US because, while it makes its US-destined cars in that country, around one quarter of parts come from Mexico, which has become embroiled in a tariff war triggered by Trump.
Tesla’s share price has plunged since December, and particularly since the inauguration and Musk’s very public role as head of cost cutting in the new administration, and has lost all its gains since a jump in November following Trump’s election triumph.
A 15 per cent plunge in Tesla stock – the biggest ever – earlier this week prompted Musk and Trump to organise a promotion for Tesla in front of the White House.
Trump, who has expressed his disdain for electric vehicles on multiple occasions, and has ripped up all Biden era EV subsidies and support programs, used what has been described as an “infomercial” to announce he would buy a Tesla Model S. Some conservative media personalities, also harsh EV critics, followed.
But the share price rebound lasted only one day. And there is widespread market speculation that the finance Musk obtained to buy X uses Tesla stock as collateral, which could mean a call in on those loans should the share price continue to fall.
Meanwhile, the falls in EV sales has been particularly savage in Europe, including in Germany where Musk has voiced support for the right wing AdF, and where several leading businesses have announced they will dump their Tesla fleets and sign up with another EV maker.
Many Tesla fans are at a loss as to why consumers are pushing back against a company that they argue – justifiably – builds the best electric vehicles, and the best battery storage products. But that approach assumes that consumers do not consider other factors when making a purchase, particularly a purchase as significant – in cost and visibility – as a car.
“Businessmen have always aligned with political movements,” Jatin Modi, the CEO of Renaissance, wrote on LinkedIn.
“What distinguished Musk was the spectacular visibility of his alignment. By stepping forward as DOGE architect and positioning himself as Trump’s most visible ally, he rewrote Tesla’s meaning in the cultural imagination.
“People don’t buy cars, they buy stories. European consumers once orbited Tesla as environmental revolution on four wheels. Overnight, this narrative transformed. The market response was ruthless: from German market leader to afterthought in months.
“The tragedy transcends Musk’s fortune. Each Tesla lost to a combustion alternative represents carbon that could have stayed sequestered. Environmental progress becomes collateral damage when personal ambition eclipses collective mission.”
Update: BC Premier David Elby later expanded on the Tesla exclusion, saying it was “just for Teala, and it’s because of Elon Musk,” adding that Canadians would “want to throw up” if they knew Musk was benefitting from $C10,000 of rebates.
Musk responded on X, describing the move as “crazy.”
Giles Parkinson is founder and editor of The Driven, and also edits and founded the Renew Economy and One Step Off The Grid web sites. He has been a journalist for nearly 40 years, is a former business and deputy editor of the Australian Financial Review, and owns a Tesla Model 3.