The second phase of Charge Up New Jersey, the state’s electric vehicle (EV) incentive program, was launched July 6, 2021, with $30 million of funding, in another step toward Governor Murphy’s goal of 330,000 EVs on New Jersey roads by 2025. In contrast to the first phase of the Charge Up New Jersey Program, whose $30 million incentives were mailed directly to consumers as a post-purchase incentive, the incentives in the second phase were provided by participating dealerships at the point of sale. On Sept. 15, 2021, less than 10 weeks after launching, the second phase of the program was paused. Announcing the expected depletion of program funds, the Charge Up New Jersey Program administrators advised on the program website that:
The Charge Up New Jersey Program has been successful for the second year in a row, with allocated funding expected to dwindle by the end of the week. The deadline to order, purchase, or lease an eligible electric vehicle was 9 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2021.
Dealerships had until Oct. 15, 2021, to submit incentive applications for eligible vehicles. The cutoff date ensured all eligible customers due an incentive had the opportunity to have their incentive reserved and applied at the point of sale once the vehicle was delivered.
In this article, we provide a brief snapshot of the second phase of the Charge Up New Jersey Program based on the data available on the Charge Up New Jersey website at the time of publication. While the website indicates the last update was made on September 8, 2021, the data is limited to sales activity for July. There were 696 EVs incentivized in July 2021. Of those, 608 were battery EVs and 88 were plug-in hybrid vehicles.
The 696 EVs consisted of 21 makes and models. According to the Charge Up New Jersey program administrator, Tesla is not included in this initial data because the data reflects fully completed transactions that have applications fully submitted and approved. Since the entirety of the transaction needed to be completed on or after July 6, 2021, many Teslas ordered were not delivered for sale within July. As a result, the data for Tesla lags due to production and delivery times. Applications pending or currently under review are also not reflected in the vehicle statistic dashboard.
The 21 makes and models, with their corresponding total rebate amounts, are as follows:
By county, the 696 sales of battery EVs and plug-in hybrid EVs in July 2021, with their corresponding total rebate amounts, are as follows:
The website also reveals distribution by make and model of each EV sold in the state’s 21 counties, as well as the sums of the rebates associated with each EV. This information can be found at https://chargeup.njcleanenergy.com/incentive-statistics.
Based on the information provided as of Sept. 8, 2021, the state’s consumers are becoming increasingly interested in EVs. Considering the first month’s data, consumers were eager to put the incentive to work by purchasing vehicles they could drive off the lot. With the pause to the program, more data will likely be available regarding more recent sales and orders. NJ CAR will continue to monitor the website’s updates and provide additional analysis once updates are released.
Magdalena Padilla is NJ CAR’s Director of Government Affairs. She can be reached at 609.883.5056, ext. 345 or via email at mpadilla@njcar.org.
