California's MyFirstEV program, launched 7 August 2026, offers $3,500 off a new electric vehicle (or $1,750 off a used one) for first-time buyers of a zero-emission vehicle. Calling it "instant" turns out to be accurate.

How it's funded: $135.5 million in state money, matched dollar-for-dollar by participating car manufacturers, roughly $271 million combined. New vehicles must be priced at $50,000 or less; used vehicles at $25,000 or less.

Why "instant" is a fair word here: the discount is applied at the dealership at the point of sale, not claimed back later through a rebate application, a genuine improvement over many EV incentive schemes that require buyers to pay full price and wait months for reimbursement.

The catch: at launch, only Hyundai, Lucid and Tesla are participating. Ford, Chevrolet and Kia are scheduled to join by November 2026.

The bottom line: a genuinely well-designed, honestly-labelled incentive program. Just confirm your brand is on the list before you count on it.