Electric vehicles are expensive and difficult to obtain in Canada, reports think-tank.

Electric vehicles are expensive and difficult to obtain in Canada, reports think-tank.
Photo Credit: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

Canada lagging behind on electric vehicles: think-tank

Canada must do more to promote electric vehicles to meet its goals of reducing greenhouse gases and also to reap economic benefits, reports the think-tank Clean Energy Canada. In 2016, only 0.6 per cent of car sales in Canada were for electric vehicles, it says calling that was well behind the U.S., the U.K., China and Norway’s market share of 28.8 per cent.

‘Canada is coasting’

“While a lot of other countries are accelerating their pursuit of electric vehicles… Canada is now coasting,” says Dan Woynillowicz, policy director at Clean Energy Canada. “And we’re not making the rate of progress that we need to if we’re going to stay in that vanguard of countries and achieve some of the economic benefits that this transition to electric cars offers.”

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More charging facilities would help foster the use of electric cars, says analyst.
More charging facilities would help foster the use of electric cars, says analyst. © Hannah Yoon/Canadian Press

National policy called for

Some Canadian provinces are doing better than others because they have taken steps like offering consumers subsidies to offset the much higher cost of electric vehicles. But Woynillowicz says Canada needs a national policy. Besides offering subsidies, he thinks the government could require manufacturers to provide more electric cars. It is currently five times more difficult to procure one in Canada than it is in the U.S., according to the think-tank’s report called Stuck in Neutral.

He adds the government must foster more charging stations on the road and at home, it should set targets, and devise a strategy to capitalize on the job and business opportunities in making the cars.

‘Rate of growth…going to be phonemenal’

“The rate of growth that we’re going to see in the coming decades is going to be phenomenal,” says Woynillowicz. “So, there’s a lot of opportunity to contribute to that and create jobs and prosperity as a result. We’d like to make sure Canada is participating in that and benefitting from it.”

The government of Canada is currently in the process of devising a Zero-Emissions Vehicle Strategy that Woynillowicz says “could help us catch up—but only with the right design.”

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