E-bike rebate applications closed after only 18 minutes

After a month of waiting, applicants had another opportunity to apply for an e-bike rebate from the Minnesota Department of Revenue — but the applications are already closed after just 18 minutes, according to a Department of Revenue spokesperson.

After 10,000 submissions were sent in, the application closed, and those who were still in the waiting room were notified they can’t apply this year.

Applications reopened on the Department of Revenue’s website at 11 a.m. Tuesday. The online application website — which was on a first-come, first-served basis with a cap of 10,000 applications, crashed within minutes of launching on June 5. About two hours later, the agency said the issues wouldn’t be resolved by the end of the day and pushed the launch to another date.

In an effort to avoid another shutdown, applicants were be placed in a virtual waiting room before accessing the application.

Once applicants were granted access — done in the order they entered the waiting room — they had 15 minutes to complete and submit the application.

More details on the process can be found here.