Looking to jolt the budding electric car industry, the Ontario government is offering rebates of up to $8,500 for buyers of plug-in hybrid or battery-powered vehicles starting July 1.

The main problem is there isn’t much selection yet, with only the sporty $125,000 Tesla Roadster available now and vehicles from mainstream manufacturers -- such as new models of the Toyota Prius, Ford Focus and the all-new Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf -- expected in the next year or two.

“There are a number that are in the works,” Transportation Minister Kathleen Wynne said Friday, calling the rebate program similar to a $7,500 subsidy in the United States “a catalyst to the industry.”

The program couldn’t have come at a better time given the devastating oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, said an official from California-based Tesla Motors, which makes the all-electric Roadster that runs on battery power only.

“I’m not sure I can take another morning of watching dead sea turtles wash up on shore,” said Hans Ulsrud, regional sales manager, who was busy doing test drives with potential customers from the company’s Yorkville dealership.

With a massive 53 kw/h battery that gives it a 400-kilometre range, the Tesla qualifies for the maximum rebate of $8,500. The subsidies start at $5,000 for cars with smaller 4 kw/h battery that can power vehicles for short commutes and rise to $8,500 for batteries at 17 kw-h and higher.

Given the price of these vehicles – even with the pricetag for the five-passenger, all-electric Nissan Leaf coming late next year set at just under $33,000 in the U.S. – Progressive Conservative transportation critic Frank Klees questioned why taxpayers are funding rebates at all.

“If somebody can afford to pay $35,000 they don’t need a subsidy,” Klees told the Star. “The person helping to pay that subsidy could be the neighbour next door who can’t afford an electric car.”

Wynne defended the rebates saying they are part of encouraging automobiles that will pollute less.

“New things need leadership,” she told reporters.

The rebates have been in the pipeline for months. Last year, Premier Dalton McGuinty suggested rebates would be in the $4,000 to $10,000 range but those numbers were narrowed at the suggestion of car manufacturers to increase the subsidies for buyers of smaller vehicles, Wynne said.

The rebate program is first-come, first-served, with money set aside for 10,000 vehicles purchased by individuals and companies who qualify. Applications forms and a list of criteria will be available starting July 1 at www.Ontario.ca/transportation.

“Our hope is this will speed up the uptake for individuals and fleets,” Wynne added.

She acknowledged Ontario is short on the infrastructure needed to help the government reach its goal of having one of every 20 cars sold in the province be electrically powered by 2020.

“It’s early days,” she said, noting there are plans to create a network of public recharging stations, including GO Transit and other Ontario government parking lots. A company called Better Place is also looking to set up battery stations where depleted batteries can be swapped in a minute.

“There’s going to take a sea change before this all becomes reality,” Klees cautioned.

Buyers can also plug in their cars at home, said Toyota spokeswoman Sandy Di Felice, pulling a plug out of the trunk of a demonstration model plug-in hybrid Prius. It hooks into an outlet on the left front quarter panel of the car and can plug in to a standard 110 volt socket, taking three hours to charge, or a 220 volt dryer or stove outlet and charge in 90 minutes.

The rebates are being offered despite the fact that no automakers are building electric vehicles in Canada – business that McGuinty is aggressively courting after the recent downsizing by the Big Three automakers.

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