Tesla has used up in five days the rebate allocation it received under California's new electric-vehicle purchase support program MyFirstEV.

Electrek, an electric-vehicle outlet, reported on Aug. 10 that discounts for Tesla buyers began on Aug. 3 and the allocation was fully exhausted by Aug. 8.

The program launched this month based on a California state budget of $135.5 million. Participating automakers match the same amount, bringing total funding to about $271.0 million. The office of California Governor Gavin Newsom (개빈 뉴섬) confirmed details of the program last week. First-time EV buyers get $3,500 off at the point of sale when buying a new vehicle priced below $50,000, or $1,750 off when buying a used vehicle priced below $25,000. There is no income requirement and no separate application or waiting process.

The funding is allocated across about 13 automakers. For each automaker, state funds of about $9.0 million are allocated, excluding the manufacturer match. Tesla, Hyundai Motor and Lucid joined first. Ford, Rivian, Chevrolet and Kia are set to join from late August, while Toyota, Honda and Subaru are scheduled to enter the program from September.

Tesla buyers used about half of the allocation within three days of the start and exhausted the remaining amount by Aug. 8. The state and manufacturer-matched rebates used for Tesla vehicles alone were estimated at about $18.0 million.

Not all Tesla models qualify for the program. California exempts the $50,000 price cap only for companies headquartered in the state that produce only electric vehicles. That applies to Rivian and Lucid, but not to Tesla, which moved its headquarters to Texas in 2021. As a result, only configurations of the Model 3 and Model Y priced below $50,000 qualified at Tesla.

Tesla's rebates were exhausted far faster than others, reflecting its continued sales lead.

The quick exhaustion is tied to sales volume. The California New Car Dealers Association said Tesla registered 45,953 vehicles in California in the second quarter this year. That was up 11.8 percent from a year earlier, or about 500 vehicles a day. Tesla accounted for 56.7 percent of zero-emission vehicle registrations in California through June. The Model Y alone registered 54,327 vehicles in the first half, posting a 57.5 percent share in the luxury compact SUV segment.

The industry view is that the outcome is not surprising because Tesla still sells more electric vehicles in California than any brand. The assessment is that a rebate pool of only a few thousand cases would struggle to last even a week for a brand selling about 500 eligible EVs a day.

Tesla's California sales showed volatility over the year based on the annual trend. First-quarter registrations fell 24 percent after a federal $7,500 tax credit ended, and the year-to-date total remains down 6.5 percent. In the second quarter, however, registrations rebounded 11.8 percent, and Tesla has kept its share of California's EV market above half.

The program has a strong perceived effect for consumers because it applies the rebate immediately at the point of sale. Even after other brands begin participating, the pace of rebate exhaustion could vary widely depending on actual sales, price conditions and model eligibility. In markets like California, where sales are concentrated in certain brands, the perceived effect by brand is likely to diverge sharply even under the same budget structure.