The Electric Vehicle Availability Standard finalized by the Canadian government on Tuesday will phase out new ICE vehicle sales in Canada over the next eleven to twelve years, with EV zero-emission or ZEVs now mandated to be 100 percent of new vehicle sales by the 2035 model year.
Meanwhile, some analysts and automotive sector figures say the switch to EV-only sales will price many ordinary Canadians out of vehicle ownership unless MSRPs drop significantly by the time the mandate is fully in effect.
The rule calls for 20 percent of model-year 2026 vehicles sold in Canada to be ZEVs, a classification covering multiple types of EV, including battery-electric vehicles, plug-in electric hybrids, and hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles. Hybrids without a plug are not included in the classification and will be blocked from sales alongside ICE vehicles.
The amount of mandated zero-emission sales increases each year, set at 43 percent for model-year 2029, 60 percent for model-year 2030, and 100 percent by model-year 2035. Notably, the timetable is a year shorter than twelve years, since model-year 2035 vehicles will appear in calendar year 2034.
The Canadian government notes that ICE vehicles generally have a maximum lifespan of 15 years and it therefore expects most to be off the roads by 2050. It says its strategy uses a “phased-in approach that allows for a gradual and orderly switch to a 100 percent zero-emission future,” one not only with climate benefits, but also saving drivers up to 50 percent in maintenance expenses and thousands of dollars in gas or diesel. A parallel program earmarks CAD$2 billion for incentives of up to CAD$5,000 for buyers of new electric vehicles, on which provincial-level rebates can also be stacked.
Possibly countering this rosy picture, Scotiabank analysts estimate electric vehicle prices must drop by a third for Canadians with medium earnings to afford them, and by half for those with low income to buy an EV. Canadian Automobile Dealers Association CEO Tim Reuss argues that “current high interest rates and high inflation” combined with high prices are already making electric vehicles inaccessible, “as evidenced by the rising inventory levels on our members’ lots.”
Charging infrastructure is also in short supply. A credit scheme built into the plan could help expand the availability of chargers rapidly. Automakers reaching targets ahead of schedule will receive credits they can “bank” for up to five years, while those lagging will be assigned negative or “deficit” credits that must be discharged within three years.
Car companies that fall short of the assigned targets can earn credits to offset the deficit by investing in charging networks. The investment is worth one credit per CAD$20,000 invested. Failure to discharge all deficit credits could lead to fines, then criminal charges.
Currently, approximately 10 percent of new vehicle sales in Canada during 2023 have been EV purchases. With the 2024 model year now coming into production, automakers have little time left to double sales to the 20 percent required for the 2026 model year.
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Comments
The movie Idiocracy is coming to fruition. I mean California has hopefully see the light of day, but remains to be seen.
BRONDO!!!!! It power’s ZEV’s too.
Buying an EV does not need loweing prices. Most gas engine vehicle buyers spend even more . The best method is to promote saving money for a 30 to 40% down payment, then getting a low interest loan for the EV. The savings in maintenance and energy will pay off the loan. That is how I buy my cars since 1976.
Ridiculous target and timeline by a ridiculous government.
With the temperatures in the country in winter, the spread out geographic nature of the country, and bare bones infrastructure, this is going to cause a lot of problems.
A friend has a F150 Lightning with extended battery and still has to charge at 250km mark when going to his cabin 310km in winter otherwise heat and radio have to be off the trip.
you really have the power not to vote these idiots anymore and cancel these imbecile programmes!
lol you are sadly so, so, wrong. And your age shows if you believe people can afford to save 30-40% down payment on a car with wildly escalating prices. It’s your age demographic voting with your head in the sand that hurts the middle class
EV prices need to come down else nobody in the mass market will buy them. PERIOD! Its how it works. Most people won’t buy an EV because there is ZERO value for spending more money for less convenience. So three things will happen. Either they come down in price one way or another, or the automakers will arm twist the then leaders to repeal the mandate. And if neither of these happen the economy will collapse due to a bankrupted auto industry courtesy of clueless politicians.
Or, there is another way, where the average wage of the working class increases along with the inflation factor. This has been the method over the last 100 or more years. At one time Ford paid his workers $5.00 a-day and that was a reasonable wage “for the time” though it seems that no one works for those wages any anymore.
The only EVs that middle class North Americas will be able to afford will come from China. Maybe this is correlated to the far left and WEF?
Its practically a known fact that the far left in the US and Canada are basically puppet factions of the Chinese Communist Party. Gavin Newsome is on record for going to China a month or two ago and promoting a BYD vehicle saying he wants them for California (with him stating he wants two for himself). With complete disregard for the American auto industry. So nothing you state would surprise me. The biggest threat to our national security are in places like Sacramento and Albany. And as for the WEF, well, Klaus Schwab made it pretty clear China is the model he wants to follow. That includes “you owning nothing and being happy about it.”
Hybrids that plug in and have at least 100 mile range before the ICE engine kicks in is the way to go. It is the best of both worlds and 99% of the time you can stay on battery power if you can charge at home and or work. I love the new Ram pick up of the future with this platform. It will be a game changer and a large Suburban or Tahoe with this concept will fly off dealer lots.
“Car companies that fall short of the assigned targets can earn credits to offset the deficit by investing in charging networks. The investment is worth one credit per CAD$20,000 invested. Failure to discharge all deficit credits could lead to fines, then criminal charges.”
I’m at a loss understanding this passage. Since when was manufacturing products that people want criminalized in favor of making products that people do not want? Whatever happened to the free market? I hear all this talk of competing with China, but I would rather have a free society that makes good ICE vehicles than an authoritarian one that makes good BEVs. This is not the competition we should be having. Somewhere along the line we missed the mark in a big way.
It’s called ramming the New Green Deal down your throat whether you like it or not…brought to you by the looney libs and their trusty Democrats.
Hopefully the drama teacher is gone the next election.
The current federal government in Canada is ignorantly unaware they are on a suicide march. Approvals are tanking and every decision they make is hurting Canadians and squeezing people already on the financial brink. A motion of no confidence is likely which would call for an early federal election.
It’s crazy how incapable the current prime ministers and his minister are. The Finance Minister is actually an out of touch moron. The housing minister I don’t think has ever looked beyond the walls of his estate. The immigration policy was non existent, the sole goal was to be the fastest growing population in the G7 despite a known housing shortage which is now past the point of broken.
It’s disgusting.
Look, I think EV’s are great! I own one as the daily car, but you’re bonkers if you don’t have a gas/diesel second car. ONLY relying on an EV when we have such wildly varying weather in Canada is just asking for trouble. You essentially MUST have 2 cars and one of them needs to be a non EV…. I feel like the gov doesn’t understand that.
I thought or was under the impression that EV’s experience difficulties in cold(er) weather.
I mean if you’re parked outside all the time and don’t have a reliable way to charge at home, yes they SUCK. But I park mine inside the garage and I have a wall charger so it’s super easy and costs next to nothing to charge in Quebec.
Of course, but many people do not have a garage to park their car into.
This would mean every parking space at an apartment complex would need a charger. The pull on the grid would be insane with millions upon millions of cars charging at night along with what is currently needed to power our homes.
The fed is full of good idea fairies looking to enforce these ideas on the rest of us. Hell, the initial carbon emissions of manufacturing an EV is several times over what it takes to manufacture an ICE vehicle. It takes about 10 years of ownership and driving so many miles in the EV to break even.
If anything, this is a push to make certain folks wealthy more than “saving the environment.” Folks in the highest levels of government care about making a bank and wielding all the power to do it.
The left doesn’t like to follow the science despite their claims that its the right that doesn’t like to follow the science.
We have the same screwed up government in the U.S. Climate change is a total scam. Everytime one of the environut’s predictions don’t pan out, they change the narrative. People better wake up! EVs are a joke! We have rolling blackouts now. Where in the heck is this electric going to come from?!!! They won’t let then build nuclear power plants and if you think wind turbines and solar panels are going to supply it, you are not living in the real world.
It’s not that cut and dry. Climate change and impacts of pollution are a thing. EVs are not the correct solution at this time, but that does not dispute global environmental damage. The extreme 10% in both side of the coin need to be silenced, and you, I hate to tell you, fall into that 10%
You really need to wake up. Climate change is a normal process. The Left is using this to control people. It’s a fact!
Thank you
Idiots.
No wonder illegal crossings on the northern us boarder are increasing.
this just shows how out of touch our govt is! Trudeau always wants to look like he saving the world from a country of only 40 million people with the second largest land mass in a northern climate. this policy for industry , construction will kill the country.remember 2003 the major blackout! we all changed our light bulbs , appliances,etc to cut electricity. now they want us to add the biggest household user of power when we just got the grid stable. crazy, the biggest thing in canada right now is FCK TRUDEAU movement, he has to go!
I wonder if we will see car companies try to extend production year runs in order to avoid the increased EV mandates of the next year. Since they already make 2024s in 2023, could they make “2026” vehicles in 2027?
This will never happen – this misfit Turdo and his nut case environment minister are out in left field . Sure we need to find a way out of fossil fuels but that will take decades and innovative technologies not just a bunch of nut cases waving a magic wand.. This really is about Turdo and his corrupt Government (including Singh) controlling people and furthering his agenda of a communist state – BUT _ the good news – these idiots should be gone next election and repairing the damage this corrupt Government has caused can begin. This will flush this stupid idea down the drain.
Folks this is just another reason GM will continue to spend on EV products. They have no choice.
Until the people of this country wake up and vote to move these people out and vote in sone one who will clean up the EPA and Carb this will continue.
Everyone blames Mary but if she had refused come the deadlines and GM will have nothing to sell.
It is up to the people and the vote to bring change here.
In time they will come after the older cars too.
Yep, this is why trump will win in 2024 or rfk jr in 2024 as well.
So in the US the average vehicle age is 12.5 years, which kind of makes that claimed 15 year maximum lifespan for ICE vehicles bogus.
I am so glad to know that the late Matthew Perry got to beat up Justin Trudeau on a regular basis.
(Source Matthew Perry’s book)
Canadian people have gone full blown Commie fools except for a few which I know personally. Most have moved to the western provinces or some have moved to America. It wouldn’t surprise me if someday America ends up bailing out Canada. We do just about every other country that has gone bankrupt. When our dollar gets replaced by the Chinese Juan they’ll be doing a bailout for America!! Hopefully that’s after I check out of this crazy world. Glad I was born in the 50s. You younger generations can have this mess Biden has started.
Chinese Yuan (NOT Juan. Don’t insult Juans) will never replace the dollar. The dollar has a better chance of getting replaced by the Euro, Yen, Pound Sterling, or even a new global currency unaffiliated with a single nation, than the Yuan. Nobody, not even Saudi royalty, want to hold a currency fully controlled by an authoritarian government. If they are worried about sanctions and other forms of economic coercion, they have even more reasons to worry over a fully authoritarian controlled one. Even the Chinese people don’t want the Yuan and is the primary reason many invest in property overseas.
Boy there dummer than we are! Don’t they know it’s cold there? And electric vehicles suck in the cold!
That would be “they’re dumber”, Einstein.
While the spirit of the upcoming laws across the world is correct, the adherence will only hurt the manufacturers. Anticipated environmental gains will not occur. New car sales will decline because many many people will extend the life of their ICE vehicles substantially longer. The price for ICE used cars will skyrocket. Today there are not enough solutions to all the negatives of purchasing EVs, and those solutions will be slow coming. Increasing the number of chargers both on the road and in homes will only over extend a power grid that is already marginal at best.
Nonsense. The spirit of the upcoming laws is to CONTROL people. There is NOTHING correct about it. The Left doesn’t give a damn about the environment. They want to be in charge and have you work for them. Wake the F up! There is nothing wrong with the environment. Reasonable care of the planet is all that is needed. The environuts are mentally ill.
The only way out of this EV mandate madness and bogus man made climate change hoax is to vote our President Donald Trump back in and vote out all of the radical Democrats and RINOs…!!!
Trudeau or Biden, whoever voted for these two knuckleheads deserve what they get, as both countries will go down severely
Trudeau is an absolute idiot.
I don’t want a lithium based vehicle. How long do the batteries last in your power tools. Not long and they don’t have a long lifespan.
If we are going to change make it hydrogen powered. Fast fill ups at fuel stations that already exist.
Lithium is totally in the wrong direction. We don’t have the electrical infrastructure to support charging all these vehicles at home.
I thought Canada was a democracy?? Maybe the government needs to move to Manitoba for a winter, maybe they’ll change there mind after a good shot of reality!! We’re gonna see a northern border crises if these mandates stand!!