Update Provided On Minnesota’s Botched E-Bike Rebate Application Launch

On Wednesday, Minnesotans were supposed to be able to start submitting applications to receive a rebate for an e-bike as part of a limited-time program that will run for the next two summers. Things very much did not go as planned.

The first-come, first-served application program is funded by a $2 million pool of money for this summer and another $2 million pool next summer. This limited offering clearly created a high demand of interested parties, overwhelming the application website.

As we shared yesterday, attempts by users to access the site in order to submit an application were met by error messages. Some users were able to get at least partially through the process before being booted out, while some others were reportedly able to complete their application, though they may not know if it was received or not.

The Minnesota Department of Revenue, which is operating the e-bike rebate program, provided an update on Wednesday afternoon, explaining that the application program has been put on hold until they can remedy the issue.

In an email sent out by the Minnesota Department of Revenue, they explain that the department along with Minnesota IT services and their external technology vendors involved in the rebate program are continuing to work on the issues impacting the website where people can submit applications.

They say that the site is hosted by an external vendor, and remains unavailable until further notice. The application site was officially closed at 1:30 pm Wednesday after problems plagued the site from the opening of the application window at 11:00 am.

READ MORE: Here's how Minnesota's e-bike rebate program works

The Minnesota Department of Revenue says some individuals were able to successfully submit an application, and they are working to identify those who successfully submitted an application to notify them that their application was successful and to inform them that they do not need to submit another application.

For anyone else who is interested but did not get a completed application submitted, you'll have to wait a bit.

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In another update on Thursday, the MDE reported that the application system remains paused after they decided to shut applications down Wednesday afternoon. They said they plan to provide another update on when applications might resume sometime next week.

Once the involved parties get the application website functional, the Minnesota Department of Revenue says they will re-open applications. Being the legislation that funded this program declared that it will be first-come, first-served, they say that they will provide notification to the public of when applications will again be accepted to allow interested parties to prepare to submit their application.