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By Mark Zdechlik, Minnesota Public Radio News

Qualified electric vehicle purchasers will soon start getting rebate money through a program intended to boost EV adoption in the state.

An official with the Minnesota Department of Commerce, which is managing the rebate program, said Wednesday that purchasers who already applied and qualified for the rebate will start getting the money in late April.

Applications for the rebates opened in early February.

Assistant Commerce Commissioner Pete Wyckoff said most of the one-time, limited rebate money has already been claimed. He said the payments will be made gradually.

“It will be slow at first and then it will pick up. I don’t have a date for when we expect everybody’s who’s in the queue to get their check,” Wyckoff said. “But we expect those first checks to start rolling out within a month or so.”

To qualify for the EV state rebate, applicants must have purchased or leased their qualifying vehicle following the law’s passage in May 2023. The state rebate amounts to $2,500 for new EVs and $600 for used ones.

New vehicles must have a purchase price below $55,000 and used ones have to be under $25,000.

According to a tracker on the Minnesota Department of Commerce website, about $3 million of the $14 million for electric vehicle rebates remain available. But more money remains for customers served by Xcel Energy than in areas where other utilities operate.

The rebates are available on a first-come, first-served basis and can be stacked with other federal incentives.

“You should sign up as soon as you’re eligible,” Wykoff said. “But everybody will get their rebate that they’re entitled to as long as they get in the application and it’s all on the up and up before the pools run out of money.’