FY2025 Supplementary Budget Subsidy for Introducing EVs in Regional Public Transport (Electric Buses, Electric Taxis, etc.)

1. This Iwate Prefecture program supports EV adoption by regional public transport operators under the FY2025 supplementary budget. Its purpose is to ease the impact of high energy prices on public transport providers and accelerate decarbonization in the prefecture's transport sector through electric buses, electric taxis, plug-in hybrid taxis and related charging/discharging equipment. 2. Eligible applicants are operators with an office or business site in Iwate, including route bus, charter bus, taxi and registered community passenger transport operators, excluding municipalities, as well as leasing companies that lease the eligible vehicles or equipment to those operators. Leasing applicants must pass the subsidy benefit through by reducing lease fees and generally set the lease period at least as long as the asset disposal restriction period. 3. Eligible costs are vehicle body prices and equipment body prices for charging/discharging facilities. Options, incidental vehicle costs, construction work, consumption tax and local consumption tax are excluded. Vehicles must have their base of use in Iwate and be newly registered after the grant decision; equipment must be dedicated to charging the eligible vehicles. 4. The subsidy rate is one third for electric buses and one quarter for bus charging equipment, electric taxis, plug-in hybrid taxis and taxi charging equipment. The maximum is JPY 20 million per electric bus, including charging equipment, JPY 600,000 for an electric taxi, JPY 300,000 for a PHV taxi and JPY 375,000 per charging unit. Applications run from 2026-02-25 to 2027-01-29, with project completion by 2027-03-15. The bus budget has already closed; taxi-related applications remain possible while budget is available.