as incentives vanish, b.c. interest in zero-emission ev mandate wanes, poll finds
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as sales of electric vehicles have waned in b.c., the pressure is increasing for the province to ease up on sales mandates in its zero-emissions vehicles act.
the first threshold in moving b.c. toward ev adoption, that 26 per cent of new light vehicle sales be zero-emission, kicks in in 2026 and as 2026 models have started arriving at dealerships, new polling shows that british columbians are starting to disapprove.
a poll by ipsos, commissioned by the energy futures institute think-tank, found that just 34 per cent of respondents support the mandates, with only 10 per cent showing strong support, while 56 per cent oppose the requirement, with 36 per cent strongly opposed.
“the ev mandates are not being well-received by the public, and that’s even before many of them face the harsh reality when they try to purchase a vehicle,” said barry penner, chairman of the institute and a former b.c. liberal environment minister.
legislation requires that car dealers increase their zero-emission offerings, which include evs and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, to 90 per cent by 2030, then 100 per cent by 2035.
zero-emission sales in b.c., however, have fallen to just 13 per cent of all vehicles as of may and june as the federal sales incentive of up to $5,000, and b.c.’s of up to $4,000, have been withdrawn.
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“when the government comes with a stick, that often increases resentment and resistance, and you see that in certain quarters,” penner said. “i hear it from people, ‘i’m not going to ever buy an ev, because the government’s trying to force me to.”
the energy ministry didn’t respond to postmedia news’s request for comment tuesday.
however, in a slide presentation given to industry representatives in june, ministry staff acknowledged that a levelling of sales would make it “challenging” to meet legislated targets and hinted at changes to the legislation “to respond to current economic conditions.”
penner’s institute obtained that slide presentation and, on tuesday, he said opening the mandate to give some credit for non-plug-in hybrid sales would help. he noted that some of the most popular toyota and honda hybrids are even manufactured in canada.
“but effectively, our mandates are saying, ‘don’t buy it, don’t buy a made-in-canada product,’ ” penner said.
at the same time, he noted no manufacturers are manufacturing evs in canada yet.
“so our governments are telling us, ‘buy imported vehicles,’ which contradicts this comment or phrase, ‘elbows up,’ or support canadian industry,” penner said.
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b.c. remains a leader in the ev and zero-emission transition and a mandate for adoption remains an important element in the equation, according to energy economist werner antweiler.
polling shows the mandates “are clearly not popular,” but with premier david eby’s decision to scrap b.c.’s consumer carbon tax, the province’s biofuel requirement and zero-emission mandate “remain the only significant pieces of legislation that would help lower emissions from transportation.”
getting rid of the mandate “would be tantamount to giving up on making any meaningful progress on reducing emissions from the transportation sector,” he added.
antweiler agreed that the zero-emission mandate needs to change to survive, but had other ideas for reforming the measure. he suggested a more transparent system such as adding surcharges on the sale of internal combustion engine vehicles based on fuel economy — the better the efficiency the lower the fee.
antweiler said the revenue from surcharges could be used to renew rebates for zero-emission vehicles, particularly evs. and it could replace the existing act’s more complicated penalties and credits for exceeding targets for ice vehicle sales.
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he added that regional differences in the mandate also make sense. antweiler said there is a greater benefit from reducing emissions in metro vancouver or the victoria capital region than rural areas where driving needs are different, so ev adoption is more important in cities.
“we need perhaps three zones for zev mandates,” antweiler said. “three speeds where the greatest effort is directed at urban areas and then with declining population density, less strict rules for rural areas.”
a more sensitive idea, antweiler said that canada should look at removing or reducing the 100-per-cent tariff the government put on chinese-made evs last year to spur competition “as they are increasingly offering affordable evs.”
“the zev mandate may well become increasingly obsolete if innovation drives down the cost of batteries to the point where evs reach cost-parity at the purchase point,” antweiler said.
penner, however, argued that opening up the market would send the wrong message at a time that canada is trying to defend its domestic auto industry against u.s. president donald trump’s threats to move auto manufacturing to the u.s.
“i think for the most part, canadian governments have tried to maintain an auto sector,” penner said. “so, if that’s the public policy goal, then i think, again, the ev mandates need to be reconsidered and modified.”
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