Without purchasing incentives, should we abandon sales quotas for electric vehicles?

Associations of dealers and automobile manufacturers are calling on Ottawa to abandon its sales targets for zero-emission vehicles, given the suspension of its incentive program for the purchase of electric cars.

According to the federal government’s target (New window)all new light vehicles sold in Canada must be electric by 2035. Justin Trudeau’s Liberals have also mandated provisional objectives: zero-emission models must represent at least 20% of sales by next year and at minus 60% by 2030.

Before we removed the subsidies, we already had concerns about whether we would be able to meet them, these adoption courses.says Patrice Maltais, spokesperson for Global Automakers of Canada. It’s going to be even more difficult.

Charles Bernard, senior economist at the Corporation of Automobile Retailers Associations, points out that electric models are still very expensive and that the lack of charging infrastructure discourages some consumers. According to him, the sales mandates do not in any way stimulate the purchase of electric vehicles in the country.

It’s a bit hypocritical to penalize an industry that has made these efforts […] when the government is not even ready to move the political levers to support this program.

He recalls that the automobile industry has invested a lot to increase its production of electric models and batteries over the coming years, but, according to him, consumers still need financial help from governments to make this electric shift. .

I understand that incentives cannot last forever, but, for the moment, one of the only effective levers to generate better adoption [des véhicules électriques]these are the incentivessays the economist.

An incentive program to review

Daniel Breton, of Electric Mobility Canada, also believes that the federal incentive program must be renewed – and even revised in order to maximize its scope – but that the sales objectives imposed by Ottawa must also be maintained.

He is disappointed to see the associations hold a press briefing on Tuesday morning to demand the end of these mandates. We kind of want to throw the baby out with the bathwater and we use that as an excuse to say: we can’t have zero emissions standardssays the president and CEO.

Their speech hasn’t changed in years.

According to the organization, approximately $71.8 million remained in the iZEV program coffers as of January 10, 2025, enough to cover incentives for the purchase of approximately 16,000 electric vehicles.

Patrice Maltais, of Global Automakers of Canada, notes that the announcement of the suspension of the Roulez vert subsidy in Quebec led to a rush at dealerships. There was incredible enthusiasm. People who were already ready to buy brought forward their purchase to be able to have as many subsidies as possible.

He believes that a similar phenomenon occurred last weekend, after the Minister of Transport’s announcement, which may have accelerated the allocation of funding for the iZEV program.

At the time of publication of this article, Minister Anita Anand’s office had not responded to specific questions from -. Unlike Pierre Poilievre and the Conservatives who want to reduce our investments in EVs, our Liberal government will continue to fight climate changeMinister Anand’s press secretary, Laurent De Casanove, declared by email.

It highlights that the program has increased the market share of zero-emission vehicles from 3% in 2019 to more than 11% in 2023, with a new record of 16.5% in the third quarter of 2024.

The minister’s office did not say whether more money would be made available to bring back the iZEV subsidies or comment on the proposal to abandon the electric vehicle sales targets.

We were told that the program would continue, but now, who knows? There may be elections in a few weeks, so we are really in a state of uncertainty, in total darkness.says the CEO of Electric Mobility Canada, Daniel Breton.