Green License Plate for 2016 Soul EV in Ontario

Just wondering if other 2016 owners had not received their green plate when picking up their car. Ours currently has a standard plate, meaning I can't use the HOV lanes by myself, and it's also holding us back from applying from the rebate.

DarthNick said:

Just wondering if other 2016 owners had not received their green plate when picking up their car. Ours currently has a standard plate, meaning I can't use the HOV lanes by myself, and it's also holding us back from applying from the rebate.

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We picked ours up in July and were told we could get the Green Plate this month. The Rebate can't be applied for until you've had the car for a year. The dealership said not to apply for at least 6 months or they would just send the paperwork back. I checked with the Ministry and they confirmed that we had to wait a year for the rebate.

ourmuskokalife said:

We picked ours up in July and were told we could get the Green Plate this month. The Rebate can't be applied for until you've had the car for a year. The dealership said not to apply for at least 6 months or they would just send the paperwork back. I checked with the Ministry and they confirmed that we had to wait a year for the rebate.

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Hmm, glad to hear they should be coming soon. Our dealer seemed to have no clue about when they plates would be ready. Didn't know about the year wait, good to know, thanks.

ourmuskokalife said:

The Rebate can't be applied for until you've had the car for a year. The dealership said not to apply for at least 6 months or they would just send the paperwork back. I checked with the Ministry and they confirmed that we had to wait a year for the rebate.

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Well after hearing this news I called the Ministry directly and spoke with a rep. myself. She first told me the same info regarding waiting a year if I financed the EV, but then when I asked her if that also applies for leasing she was a little confused. After guessing a little She put me on hold for 4-5 min. When she came back she said she clarified the confusion with her manager and apologized because she was thinking of a different program they have (she said there's a lot of programs and they sometimes mix them up). After confirming with her manager she said that there is NO 1 year waiting period and the application can be submitted immediately after the purchased and/or lease (lease has to be 12-36 months).

She also reminded me that some dealerships (i.e. NISSAN) actually do the application themselves and takes the $8500 off the price of the car upfront. This makes sense that you wouldn't have to wait a full year because TRUST ME, no dealership would sacrifice $8500 for a year just to sell a car.

FYI. She advised the turn around period is about 4 weeks. So with any government thing, maybe 6 weeks

Hope this helps any potential buyers or anyone that is waiting to submit their rebate.

With this said, I really think Kia should take a page from Nissan and also do the rebate for us upfront. It's just another part of customer service as far as I'm concerned.

I just picked up a 2016 and am having to use regular plates for now. I called Kia Canada and the Ministry - the Ministry is waiting for the paperwork for Kia to file for the 2016 model, which holds us up from getting green plates and all the rebates. Kia told me they were on it, but did not give a timeframe yet.

We picked up our 2016 on Wednesday from Kia on Hunt Club in Ottawa. We live in Quebec, so different green plate, different rebate program, etc, but there was never any question or problem about either - it was understood with no hesitation that they would apply for and use the rebate as a down payment on the financing deal, and the green plate was on the car when we picked it up.

For any other 2016 model Ontario recent owners - KIA called me today and said the application was filed with the Ministry Aug 19 to qualify the 2016 model in Ontario, and can take up to 6 weeks to process so worst case end of September. Only at that point can we get green plates, and apply for any rebates.
They also acknowledged the issue with charging the $100 Federal Air Conditioning tax (when it is exempt) and are trying to internally address it. If you paid this (like me because they insisted on it) we should be getting it back at some point.

My dealer had the AC tax on the purchase agreement but I printed out a copy of the law and they removed it.

The law is X3-1 available online http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pub/et/x3-1/x3-1-e.html and you want to highlight paragraph 17 if you have problems with the dealer.

17. The excise tax on air conditioners designed for automobiles, station wagons, vans or trucks applies only to those that are powered by the engines or power trains of the vehicles mentioned. Air conditioners that are powered by separate motors, propane or electricity are not subject to this tax.

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The Soul EV AC is powered by a separate electric motor and not from the power train so it is exempt.

Full Disclaimer: I'm a Soul EV driver and not a tax professional

i gave the link as well and printed it out to my dealer but they still insisted on charging it. They said Kia Canada has not given them the direction not to charge it, even though they agreed it looks like it's exempt. I've notified Kia Canada head office and they are investigating, so I'll get it back eventually I guess.

Just checked the Eligible Vehicles list, the 2016 has finally shown up!

Time to get those green plates/rebates!

Good to hear.

confirmed on the Ontario service office list and got my green plates today for the 16. can finally stop people asking "why don't you have green plates if it's an electric car?"

How do you do the switch? Can you just drive to the office, unscrew the blue plates, walk in and swap them? Or do they get upset if your car is sitting there without plates while they process it?

Beachman said:

confirmed on the Ontario service office list and got my green plates today for the 16. can finally stop people asking "why don't you have green plates if it's an electric car?"

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Ya I get my car on Monday and the dealer originally told me that I will have to transfer my regular ICE plates and get green plates later. But yesterday they called me back and said the ministry called them and said the green plates are ready and I can't just use my old ICE plates (which is good cuz I didn't want to anyways). So that's great news as it means I can apply for the gvt incentive (rebate) ASAP.

Went in and talked to them in the office leaving the old blue plates on but I'd brought a screwdriver with me in case. They started processing the plates and half way through told me to go take the plates off and bring them in.

It took ages because they had to phone head office twice, once to confirm that my vehicle was on the list as they had an old list, and once to sort out the codes for the plate transfer - nobody in the office could remember as they issue so few. The code they need for issuing is "EVE" and the engine changes from "E" to "V" to show that it is a valid green car.

Bumped in to another Soul EV owner in the parking lot who just picked up his on Wednesday so he was lucky and had the green plates already.

I picked up my 2016 Soul EV in late Aug and am still waiting for my green plates from the dealer (Kia on Hunt Club in Ottawa), though, based on my purchase experience there I don't expect them to actually process my green plates until I bug them about it for a few months.

At least they processed the $8500 gov't rebate paperwork and took it off the price right away so I didn't have to deal with that.

I wouldn't do it through the dealer, just go to a Service Ontario place near you and do it yourself. Take a screwdriver with you to swap the plates and a note of the codes from my post above to help the staff there if they don't do many EVs.