California’s New EV Subsidy Program Is Ideal For Wealthiest Buyers

California's taxpayers have just served up a great new taxpayer-funded discount on some of the most expensive EVs sold in America. The great part of this for the country club set is that there is no means testing (income cap). You can be a millionaire, billionaire, or trillionaire, and your fellow Californians will help to take the sting out of that fancy Tesla or six-figure Rivian or Lucid EV you’ve been eying.

One ironic part of this program is that the new EV subsidy program specifically excludes any Californian who has been driving emissions-free for decades. That’s right, if you’ve already owned an EV, you need not apply. This free money program is specifically pointed at those wealthy buyers who have been burning gas up until, well, right this very moment. Only first-time EV buyers can tap into the state’s $3,500 discount on a new battery-electric vehicle. If you did the right thing and purchased an EV in the past, you can’t get the discount. Cue the slow trombone.

Let’s face it, many wealthy folks got that way by being smart with money, and purchasing an EV is a questionable financial move for many reasons. Chief among them is that EVs depreciate more than any vehicle type. So much so that the steep EV depreciation offsets the gas savings. If you’re a wealthy penny-pincher, take note. You can still tap into the free money by purchasing a used EV with a price of up to $25,000. Like a Jaguar I-Pace, for example. Doesn't that Jag in the image at the top of the page look like a great runabout for your kid?

Thanks to the new 2026 budget put in place by the state and Governor Newsom, the wealthiest Californians can now enjoy a taxpayer-funded discount on a fancy Lucid or Rivian of any price, or they can buy a new nifty Tesla Model 3 RWD. They start well under the cost cap.

Wondering how the fancy Lucid and Rivian vehicles slipped into this program, given that they all start about $50K? Electrek did a great job reporting on the special carve-out for those two fancy-pants brands.

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The $50,000 price cap is waived entirely for EVs built by California-headquartered, EV-only automakers - companies whose corporate management and staff are based in the state as of January 1, 2026.

If you are a wealthy Californian in a gas-guzzler now and need to add another car to your fleet, this is an ideal program to help offset the costs of doing so. No need to get rid of the gas burner. You can keep it. There is no trade-in requirement. Let us know which new or used EV you plan to pick in our comments section below. 

About the Author:

John Goreham is a 14-year veteran of Torque News. An accomplished writer and a long-time expert in vehicle testing, Goreham also serves as the Vice President of the New England Motor Press Association and has a growing social media presence. He’s also a 10-year staff writer and community moderator for Car Talk. Goreham holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and an undergraduate Certificate in Marketing. In addition to vehicle and tire content, he offers deep dives into market trends and opinion pieces. You can follow John Goreham on X and TikTok, and connect with him on LinkedIn.

Top of page image courtesy of Jaguar US media.