Gov. Gavin Newsom is proposing to reinstate California’s rebate program for zero-emission vehicles, or ZEVs, if a federal tax credit for them is eliminated by the incoming Trump Administration.

As part of Trump’s “Agenda 47” and the 2024 Republican Party platform, the president-elect has proposed, without details, to “cancel the electric vehicle mandate,” although that could be aimed at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s tailpipe emissions mandate passed by the Biden Administration earlier this year.

The state’s program would be modeled after its past Clean Vehicle Rebate Project, which ended in 2023 and provided about $1.49 billion in funding for about 594,000 vehicles, according to the governor’s office.

Newsom’s office said in a news release that a reinstated state rebate could be drawn from the state’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which is paid into by large emitters of greenhouse gases operating in the state.

The federal credit was passed as part of the Biden Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. It consists of two credits for ZEV buyers worth $3,750 each, one for vehicles manufactured with a threshold of critical minerals that were extracted and processed either in the U.S. or in a country with which it has a free trade agreement, and another if a certain percentage of the vehicle’s battery components were manufactured or assembled in North America, according to the legislation.

The legislation also contains a $4,000 credit for used electric vehicles.

It remains unclear whether Trump would cancel some or all of the tax credits.

ZEVs are ‘here to stay’

“Consumers continue to prove the skeptics wrong — zero-emission vehicles are here to stay,” Newsom said in a statement

“We will intervene if the Trump Administration eliminates the federal tax credit, doubling down on our commitment to clean air and green jobs in California. We’re not turning back on a clean transportation future — we’re going to make it more affordable for people to drive vehicles that don’t pollute,” he said.

The governor’s office said the state recently passed 2 million zero-emission vehicles sold.

Trump transition influencer and CEO of Tesla Motors Elon Musk said on a Tesla earnings call with investors in July that ending the federal credit would hurt his company’s competitors more than Tesla, which has also received manufacturing subsidies under the Inflation Reduction Act.

“I think it would be devastating for our competitors and would hurt Tesla slightly, but long term, actually probably helps Tesla, would be my guess,” Musk said.

Repealing the tax credits would require an act of Congress, by amending or repealing the Inflation Reduction Act.