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Electric-vehicle sales show modest spark

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From Resource Works

Fuel-powered cars still outsell EVs in Canada by almost 7:1

While the federal government pushes electric vehicles (and other zero-emission vehicles), Canadians seem to be somewhat less enthusiastic about them.

Ottawa calls them all ZEVs and says: “Canada is committed to decarbonizing the country’s transportation sector and becoming a global leader in ZEVs. As such, the Government of Canada is aiming for 100% of new light-duty sales to be zero-emission by 2035.”

However, even with rebates offered by Ottawa and eight provinces and territories, Canadians are proving a little reluctant to make the switch—especially to pure battery-only electric vehicles (EVs).

For example, in the second quarter of this year, Statistics Canada reported sales of 511,173 new motor vehicles, the largest number since the third quarter of 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Of those 511,173 vehicles, 445,231 (87.1%) were traditional carbon-fuel cars, vans, and light trucks. Meanwhile, 65,733 were EVs (12.9%). Thus, fuel-powered cars outsold EVs by a ratio of 6.8 to one.

Among the 65,733 EVs sold, 48,511 were pure battery-only vehicles, while 17,222 were hybrid models with both electric and carbon-fuel drives.

This is not quite what Ottawa had hoped for.

(Incidentally, 51.6% of all new EV registrations were in Quebec, followed by Ontario at 21.9%, and British Columbia at 18.5%. In the Statistics Canada survey, the numbers for BC also include the territories.)

When market research company J.D. Power surveyed new-vehicle shoppers in Canada, respondents who said they wouldn’t consider an EV cited high prices, concerns about travel range, and challenges with charging the battery as key reasons.

J.D. Ney of J.D. Power notes that mainstream vehicle buyers are less wealthy and more practical, making them harder to persuade to switch from gas-powered cars.

“If I make a mistake buying an EV or it doesn’t suit my lifestyle, that’s a $65,000 problem. It’s the second-biggest purchase that most Canadians will make. And so, I think they are rightfully cautious.”

As of March 1 (the latest figures available), Canada had 27,181 public charging ports located at 11,077 public charging stations across the country.

Of those 27,181 charging ports, 22,246 are “standard” Level 2 chargers, while 4,935 are fast chargers.

This means Canadians with battery-electric vehicles often face challenges finding an available public port, and, if they do find one, it could take hours to recharge their car from low to 100%. Most ZEV drivers opt instead to “top up” their batteries, but even that can take many minutes.

The availability of fast chargers in Canada is on the rise, with EV manufacturer Tesla adding more “superchargers” that can be used by non-Tesla owners if their vehicles are equipped with the right plug-in adapter or if the owners purchase a suitable adapter.

Electric vehicles are also improving their range, with some models now able to travel as much as 800 km before needing a major recharge. The average range is 435 km, although some older ZEVs still have ranges in the low hundreds.

Potential ranges drop, however, in Canadian cold weather. Some EVs can lose up to 30% of their range in freezing temperatures, and charging times can also increase in the cold.

The concerns and caution of customers have resonated with EV manufacturers.

As CBC News reported: “Just a few years ago, carmakers were investing billions of dollars into their electric lineups and pledging they would soon stop building gas-powered cars.

“But customers aren’t going fully electric as quickly as predicted, so many companies are making adjustments to better meet demand.

“General Motors has scaled back its electric vehicle production this year and will build an estimated 50,000 fewer EVs. Ford is shifting its strategy, stalling plans for an electric SUV and building a hybrid version instead.

“These companies are still losing money on EVs. Despite all that, the carmakers insist they’re still committed to the cause.”

In April, Honda announced plans to invest $11 billion in electric vehicle and battery plants in Ontario. The project aims to produce 240,000 EVs annually, with production expected to begin in 2028.

At the same time, construction of a $7-billion EV battery plant in Quebec could take up to 18 months longer than originally planned, according to the Quebec government.

Production at the Northvolt plant was slated to begin in 2026 to compete with Chinese-made batteries. However, while construction continues, a review by Northvolt could result in a reassessment of the timetable. This review followed Northvolt’s bankruptcy filing in the U.S.

Here in Canada, Ottawa began in August imposing a 100% tariff on Chinese-made EVs. The aim is to protect the domestic EV market from inexpensive Chinese imports. But President-elect Donald Trump proposes a 25% tariff on all imports from Canada, including Canadian-made EVs and parts. This is causing huge concern for firms planning to build EVs and/or EV parts in Canada for export to the U.S.

Returning to EVs: The federal government’s goals are for 20% of new cars sold to be ZEVs by 2026, 60% by 2030, and 100% by 2035.

Carmakers, however, have said those goals won’t be achievable unless Ottawa does more to boost charging infrastructure and address EV affordability.

“We have all of the ingredients for Canada to succeed in this sector,” says Brian Kingston, president of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association. “I’m convinced we’ll continue to see growth in EV adoption, but we do have to address some of those barriers to demand.”

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Automotive

Power Struggle: Electric vehicles and reality

Published on

From Resource Works

Tension grows between ambition and market truths

Host Stewart Muir talks on Power Struggle with Brian Maas, president of the California New Car Dealers Association, and Maas introduces us to a U.S. problem that Canada and B.C. also face right now. “The problem is there are mandates that apply in California and 11 other states that require, for the 2026 model year, 35% of all vehicles manufactured for sale in our state must be zero-emission, even though the market share right now is 20%.  “So we’ve got a mandate that virtually none of the manufacturers our dealers represent are going to be able to meet.”

Maas adds: “We’re trying to communicate with policymakers that nobody’s opposed to the eventual goal of electrification. California’s obviously led that effort, but a mandate that nobody can comply with and one that California voters are opposed to deserves to be recalibrated.” Meanwhile, in Canada, the same objections apply to the federal government’s requirement, set in 2023, that 100% of new light-duty vehicles sold must be zero-emission vehicles, ZEVs (electric or plug-in hybrid) by 2035, with interim targets of 20 per cent by 2026 and 60 per cent by 2030. There are hefty penalties for dealers missing the targets.

Market researchers note that it now takes 55 days to sell an electric vehicle in Canada, up from 22 days in the first quarter of 2023. The researchers cite a lack of desirable models and high consumer prices despite government subsidies to buyers in six provinces that run as high as $7,000 in Quebec.

In the U.S. The Wall Street Journal reports that, on average, electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids sit in dealer lots longer than gasoline-powered cars and hybrids, despite government pressure to switch to electric. (The Biden administration ruled that two-thirds of new vehicles sold must be electric by 2032.) For Canada, the small-c conservative Fraser Institute reports: “The targets were wild to begin with. As Manhattan Institute senior fellow Mark P. Mills observed, bans on conventional vehicles and mandated switches to electric means, consumers will need to adopt EVs at a scale and velocity 10 times greater and faster than the introduction of any new model of car in history.”

When Ottawa scrapped federal consumer subsidies earlier this year, EV manufacturers and dealers in Canada called on the feds to scrap the sales mandates. “The federal government’s mandated ZEV sales targets are increasingly unrealistic and must end,” said Brian Kingston, CEO of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association. “Mandating Canadians to buy ZEVs without providing them the supports needed to switch to electric is a made-in-Canada policy failure.” And Tim Reuss, CEO of the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association, said: “The Liberal federal government has backed away from supporting the transition to electric vehicles and now we are left with a completely unrealistic plan at the federal level.  “There is hypocrisy in imposing ambitious ZEV mandates and penalties on consumers when the government is showing a clear lack of motivation and support for their own policy goals.”

In B.C., sales growth of ZEVs has recently slowed, and the provincial government is considering easing its ZEV targets. “The Energy Ministry acknowledged that it will be ‘challenging’ to reach the target that 90 per cent of new vehicles be zero emission by 2030.”  Nat Gosman, an assistant deputy minister in the B.C. energy ministry, cited reasons for the slowdown that include affordability concerns due to a pause in government rebates, supply chain disruptions caused by U.S. tariffs, and concerns about reliability of public charging sites.

Barry Penner, chair of the Energy Futures Institute and a former B.C. Liberal environment minister, said the problem is that the government has “put the cart before the horse” when it comes to incentivizing people to buy electric vehicles. “The government imposed these electric vehicle mandates before the public charging infrastructure is in place and before we’ve figured out how we’re going to make it easy for people to charge their vehicles in multi-family dwellings like apartment buildings.”

Penner went on to write an article for Resource Works that said: “Instead of accelerating into economically harmful mandates, both provincial and federal governments should recalibrate. We need to slow down, invest in required charging infrastructure, and support market-based innovation, not forced adoption through penalties. “A sustainable energy future for BC and Canada requires smart, pragmatic policy, not economic coercion. Let’s take our foot off the gas and realign our policies with reality, protect jobs, consumer affordability, and real environmental progress. Then we can have a successful transition to electric vehicles.”

Back to Power Struggle, and Brian Maas tells Stewart: “I think everybody understands that it’s great technology and I think a lot of Californians would like to have one.  . . . The number one reason consumers cited for not making the transition to a zero-emission vehicle is the lack of public charging infrastructure. We’re woefully behind what would be required to move to 100% environment. “And if you live in a multifamily dwelling, an apartment building or something like that, you can’t charge at home, so you would have to rely on a public charger. Where do you go to get that charged?

“The state’s Energy Commission has said we need a million public chargers by 2030 and two million public chargers by 2035. We only have 178,000 now and we’re adding less than 50,000 public chargers a year. We’re just not going to get there fast enough to meet the mandate that’s on the books now.”

In Canada, Resource Works finds there now are more than 33,700 public charging ports, at 12,955 locations. But Ottawa says that to support its EV mandate, Canada will need about 679,000 public ports. “This will require the installation of, on average, 40,000 public ports each year between 2025 and 2040.”

And we remind readers of Penner’s serious call on governments to lighten the push on the accelerator when it comes to ZEV mandates: “Let’s take our foot off the gas and realign our policies with reality, protect jobs, consumer affordability, and real environmental progress. Then we can have a successful transition to electric vehicles.”

  • Power Struggle YouTube video: https://ow.ly/8J4T50WhK5i
  • Audio and full transcript: https://ow.ly/Np8550WhK5j
  • Stewart Muir on LinkedIn: https://ow.ly/Smiq50UWpSB
  • Brian Maas on LinkedIn: https://ow.ly/GuTh50WhK8h
  • Power Struggle on LinkedIn: https://ow.ly/KX4r50UWpUa
  • Power Struggle on Instagram: https://ow.ly/3VIM50UWpUg
  • Power Struggle on Facebook: https://ow.ly/4znx50UWpUs
  • Power Struggle on X: https://ow.ly/tU3R50UWpVu
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Automotive

Electric vehicle sales are falling hard in BC, and it is time to recognize reality.

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From Energy Now

By Barry Penner

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British Columbia’s electric vehicle (EV) sales mandates were created with good intentions, but the collision with reality is now obvious.

Although we are still in 2025, the 26 percent zero-emission vehicle sales mandate is already hitting our dealerships. That’s because it applies to the 2026 model year, and many of those models are starting to arrive across the province now.

While 26 percent sounds moderate compared to 90 percent by 2030, or 100 percent by 2035, as also required by BC law, the facts on the ground are grim.

According to S&P Global Mobility data, EV sales in BC have plummeted to around 15.4 percent as of June 2025, down from nearly 25 percent in mid-2024. This decline happened fast after both federal, up to $5,000, and provincial governments, up to $4,000 in BC, stopped funding their EV rebate programs earlier this year. So, the very incentives that made expensive electric vehicles accessible to middle-income buyers disappeared just when they were needed most.

Government polling shows 60 percent of British Columbians say cost is their biggest barrier to buying electric vehicles. And yet, both levels of government pulled the financial support while maintaining the sales mandates, with penalties of up to $20,000 per non-compliant vehicle. This is not just bad policy, it’s economic punishment for our auto sector.

Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association, pointed out the severe consequences for automakers. Federally, failing to meet the EV sales targets could mean astronomical penalties. A company selling 300,000 vehicles a year that misses its target by 10 percent could face a $600 million fine. These are not theoretical risks; they are real and could mean manufacturers reduce their Canadian presence, potentially costing thousands of auto jobs.

And powering an all-electric vehicle fleet is no small task. The organization of which I am chair, the Energy Futures Institute, modelled BC’s electricity needs under the 2035 mandate scenario and found full implementation would require an extra two Site C dams’ worth of electricity. We’ve already been importing 20 to 25 percent of our electricity annually for the past few years, often from fossil fuels, which contradicts our clean energy goals.

Electric vehicles represent an important technological advance, but the path matters. With governments forcing unattainable mandates, they are creating resentment amongst potential buyers and a political backlash against EVs themselves.

Energy Futures recently learned that the BC government is undertaking a technical review of the Zero-Emission Vehicle Act, quietly acknowledging that sales targets are increasingly seen as next to impossible. Under consideration is a change to the targets themselves, along with adjustments to compliance ratios and eligibility rules for plug-in hybrids.

The market shift to regular hybrids, which you don’t plug in, is not supported by rebates, but is happening nevertheless. However, these vehicles, such as the Toyota Prius, are not considered “clean” enough under BC legislation and could attract a penalty of $20,000 each.

This only makes things worse for consumers who are already stretched. Punitive mandates create market distortions, restrict consumer choice, and drive up vehicle prices for everyone, especially lower-income families who rely on affordable used cars.

Instead of accelerating into economically harmful mandates, both provincial and federal governments should recalibrate. Ottawa’s Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin’s statement earlier this month to renew consumer rebates is a good start, if the government is determined to interfere with the marketplace. But rebates alone won’t be enough. We need to slow down, invest in required charging infrastructure, and support market-based innovation, not forced adoption through penalties.

A sustainable energy future for BC and Canada requires smart, pragmatic policy, not economic coercion. Let’s take our foot off the gas and realign our policies with reality, protect jobs, consumer affordability, and real environmental progress. Then we can have a successful transition to electric vehicles.


Barry Penner is chair of the Energy Futures Institute, former president of the Pacific Northwest Economic Region and former four-term B.C. MLA and cabinet minister.

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