Canadians own very few electric cars, says report
Conservative MPs say the electric car industry only thrives wherever a 'massive government subsidy' is in place.
The Trudeau government’s electric car mandate has failed in spectacular fashion, after Statistics Canada revealed very few roadworthy vehicles in Canada are battery-powered electrics.
“Light duty vehicles using gasoline represented 93 percent of the fleet,” said a StatsCan report Vehicle Registrations 2023. Only 327,732 vehicles were battery-powered electrics, accounting for a meagre 1.3% of all vehicles on the road last year.
Cabinet in December 2022 mandated that electrics account for all new vehicle sales by 2035, prompting considerable pushback from elected officials and auto-industry professionals.
“Isn’t it better to remove those mandates?” asked Conservative MP Ryan Williams, a member of the Commons trade committee. “To your point, we see the transition,” replied Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne, who defended the mandate.
“When you’ve been doing the same thing for a hundred years and you change the technology in the way that we’re doing, you have short term adjustment. I keep saying Tesla took 17 years to be profitable. I think there is no doubt people would say electrification is there,” he said.
Conservative MP Rick Perkins earlier told the parliamentary committee that the electric car industry only thrives wherever a “massive government subsidy” is in place, with automakers ‘doubtful’ the mandate will bear fruits. BMW CEO Oliver Zipse told the Economic Times last week that mandates would “lead to a massive shrinking of the industry as a whole.”
The Department of Environment and Parliamentary Budget Office put current subsidies at $151.5 billion, including $52.5 billion for auto and battery manufacturers.
Minister Champagne said October 3 that more Canadians must buy electric cars if the mandate has any chance at meeting the 2035 target. A federal memo proposed that cabinet double rebates from $5,000, noting American rebates have increased since their inception.
“By 2035 [there will be] a ban on gas combustion engines,” said MP Williams. “That includes hybrids as well. When we look at the Americans, they don’t have that ban.”
Automakers have conveyed to the Trudeau government they want more than the current grant offers to buyers.
The Department of Environment has budgeted $2 billion for federal rebates to date. However, most Canadians consider electric autos too costly regardless of rebates.
According to Leger polling commissioned by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF), 59% of Canadians oppose the plan to phase out gas and diesel cars by 2035.
Research by the Department of Natural Resources reiterated that 43% of Canadians have not considered driving an electric car, and among those who have, 51% haven't taken steps to purchase or lease one.
The average price of a new vehicle in Canada is $66,000 — cheaper than the typical electric vehicle ($73,000). Unaccounted expenses include the “cost of retraining mechanics,” lost revenue for “gas stations with attached convenience stores” and higher insurance premiums.
Alex Dhaliwal
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Alex Dhaliwal is a Political Science graduate from the University of Calgary. He has actively written on relevant Canadian issues with several prominent interviews under his belt.
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