Tesla exhausted its share of California’s MyFirstEV rebate between August 3 and August 8. The $50,000 price cap is waived for California-headquartered EV-only makers like Rivian and Lucid, but not Tesla.

Tesla used up its entire allocation of California’s new first-time buyer rebate in five days. The MyFirstEV scheme opened this month, and Tesla started offering the discount on August 3. Its share was gone by August 8, a spokesperson for the California Air Resources Board confirmed to InsideEVs.

The money is not one central pot. California put $135.5mn in and split it between participating carmakers, each of which agreed to match the state dollar for dollar, taking the total to roughly $271mn. That works out at about $9mn of public money per manufacturer, or $18mn once the match is counted, and InsideEVs estimates Tesla buyers claimed close to the full amount.

Buyers get $3,500 off a qualifying new EV or $1,750 on a used one. New cars must carry a base price of $50,000 or less, used ones $25,000 or less.

That cap does not apply evenly. It is waived for EV-only carmakers headquartered in California, which covers Rivian and Lucid. Tesla moved its headquarters to Texas in 2021, so only its cheaper Model 3 and Model Y trims qualified at all.

The programme is California’s answer to Washington. “Donald Trump is doing everything in his power to pollute our air and surrender the clean car industry to China on a silver platter,” governor Gavin Newsom said when he announced it. Chinese manufacturers are meanwhile selling cars like the $15,300 electric SUV across 35 countries.

The federal $7,500 tax credit expired in September last year. Ford chief executive Jim Farley warned at the time that the change could cut EV demand in half. Several carmakers have since scaled back their plans, leaving American buyers with a dozen fewer models than a year ago.

The wider picture is bleak. Americans bought 74,967 new EVs in June, down almost 28% year on year, according to Cox Automotive. Electric cars made up 5.4% of all new vehicle sales that month.

California is the exception, and Tesla is the exception inside it. The company registered 45,953 vehicles in the state during the second quarter, up 11.8% on a year earlier, on California New Car Dealers Association figures cited by Electrek. It took 56.7% of every zero-emission vehicle registered in California through June.

That is close to a mirror image of its position in Europe, where sales have been tanking. Ford, Rivian and Toyota are expected to start offering the California rebate in the coming months. Tesla and CARB did not respond to Gizmodo’s requests for comment.

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