Tesla Burns Through Funds Allocated for Gavin Newsom’s EV Rebate Within Days—California Governor Hails Clean Energy Bet

Gov. Gavin Newsom‘s (D-CA) MyFirstEV program promises a $3,500 instant discount on new EVs, as well as a $1,750 discount on used EVs, for first-time buyers in California. Now, Elon Musk‘s Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) has confirmed on its website that it has run out of allocated funds in the program.

Tesla Ran Out Of Funds in Four Days

In a post on X, influencer Sawyer Merritt on Saturday quoted a post he made earlier, which shared that the EV giant had announced on Friday that only 30% of funds were left in the rebate program. Merritt said that Tesla had used up all of the allocated funds.

“The program launched on August 3rd, so this means buyers used up all of Tesla’s allocated funds in just 4 days lol,” Merritt said.

UPDATE: Tesla’s allocated funds for California’s MyFirstEV program have officially been all used up. Just 22 hours ago, 30% of the funds remained.

The program launched on August 3rd, so this means buyers used up all of Tesla's allocated funds in just 4 days lol. https://t.co/c0tByx4q3m

— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) August 8, 2026

Tesla, on a support page, has confirmed that the incentive is no longer available as the allocated funds have been depleted.

Tesla had earlier confirmed that the EV giant will be participating in the program and that its eligible Model Y and Model 3 units would be sold to prospective buyers who placed their order "on or after August 3, 2026″ and take delivery while funds were still available.

Tesla’s competitors like Rivian Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:RIVN), as well as Lucid Group Inc. (NASDAQ:LCID) had also said they would be participating in the program.

Gavin Newsom on California’s Clean Energy Push

In a post on X, the California Governor’s Press Office handle shared a clip of Newsom at the MyFirstEV program event on Saturday.

Newsom said that California had exceeded the state’s “environmental goals.” He also touted that California had invested “$6 billion” in developing EV infrastructure, as well as 2.5 million EVs sold since 2019.

In every single category, California has exceeded environmental goals.

$6 billion invested in EV infrastructure. 2.5 million cumulative EV’s sold.

California continues to set the standard for environmental action. pic.twitter.com/C9sfl8iAjs

— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) August 7, 2026

He also shared that California had deployed “21,000 megawatts of battery storage,” adding that the state had “the second largest utility scale battery storage in the world” behind China.

Newsom also shared that the state had not experienced a “flex alert,” which is a voluntary call by authorities to conserve power, in the last four years.

“That’s what battery storage has done,” he said, outlining that the figure was around 770 megawatts when Newsom took office in 2019.

21,000 megawatts of battery storage. It was 770 when @CAGovernor Gavin Newsom started his term.

California made a commitment to lead in this space. Now we’re the second largest utility scale battery storage in the world. China, then California.

The state hasn’t had a Flex… pic.twitter.com/kUnpR1KYkV

— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) August 7, 2026

Benzinga Edge Rankings show Tesla scores poorly on the Momentum and Value metrics, but provides satisfactory Growth and Quality. Tesla shares also fail to provide a favorable price trend in the Short, Medium and Long term.

Price Action: Tesla shares were up 1.05% to $332.02 during pre-market trading on Monday.

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