The Canadian Electric Vehicle thread

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

Are Mitsubishi's popular across Canada?

their Outlander PHEV has become very common here

I see a lot of the Outlanders here but I'm not sure what proportion are hybrids. Its not a vehicle I personally find very interesting or attractive so I don't pay that much attention lol.

[trueviking]

^ are there interesting and attractive cars these days?...they all look the same to me.

[Truenorth00]

For all the talk of declining demand (more like reduction in demand growth), G&M doesn't seem to see this in Canada.

No sign of an EV backlash among vehicle buyers in Canada

These are difficult days for electric vehicles. Tesla sales are tanking and other automakers are scaling back how many EVs they plan to build this year.

There is one bright spot in the industry, even if its not going to move the global needle on EV demand: Canadian consumers are still flocking to low-emission vehicles.

In the first quarter new vehicle registrations of EVs, which includes full electrics and plug-in hybrids, grew 53 per cent compared with the same quarter last year even as new registrations of non-electrics slowed, according to Statistics Canada.

Canadians registered 47,000 new EVs last quarter, representing 11.3 per cent of all vehicle registrations. That share, which can be volatile from quarter to quarter, is down from a peak of 12.3 per cent in the third quarter of 2023, but still up from 8.6 per cent a year ago.

....

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/busi...ers-in-canada/

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

For all the talk of declining demand (more like reduction in demand growth), G&M doesn't seem to see this in Canada.



https://www.theglobeandmail.com/busi...ers-in-canada/

Let's see where they would land without subsidies....

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Let's see where they would land without subsidies....

In deep trouble. That's why they need protection from Chinese EVs. For most of these companies 20% or more of their sales are from the Chinese market. Getting locked of that market and then getting a beating everywhere but Europe and North America isn't exactly a formula for success in the kind run.

[whatnext]

I found out why my local VW dealer was having the EV blitz last weekend- after June 18 EVs costing over $50k no longer qualified for the provincial rebate, so the ID4 would no longer come with gov't cash on the hood.

B.C. lowers rebate cap on electric vehicles, triggers industry backlash
On Tuesday, B.C.'s $4,000 rebate for vehicles deemed electric 'cars' was restricted to models that cost $50,000 or less — a $5,000 reduction from the previous cap.
Stefan Labbé
about 19 hours ago

The heads of major Canadian automobile industry associations slammed the B.C. government Tuesday over what they claim was a unilateral decision to cut about 75 per cent electric and hybrid models from its rebate program.

B.C.'s CleanBC Go Electric rebate provides up to $4,000 to qualifying zero-emission vehicles (ZEV), which include plug-in hybrids, battery electric and fuel cell-powered cars. But on Tuesday, the province dropped the maximum cost of qualifying vehicles in the “cars” category to $50,000 from the previous $55,000, confirmed Josie Osborne, Minister of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation.

In a statement to Glacier Media, Osborne said the change was made to ensure rebates were targeted at middle-income families, and would push manufactures to lower their prices.

“With electric vehicle (EV) sales increasing faster than anticipated and currently at record levels, we needed to make adjustments to our CleanBC electric vehicle rebate program given available funding,” said the minister. ...

https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/h...cklash-9103586

[Nouvellecosse]

I'm not sure why some people seem to obsess over the rebates as if they somehow prove that EVs aren't desirable on their own merits. The fact is, a like-for-like EV is still usually more expensive in terms of up-front cost compared to ICE vehicles. Which happens with all emerging technologies since prices come down over time as production ramps up but it isn't an instant process. So the subsidies only aim to help partially put them on equal footing. So I don't see why a subsidy that just helps put two products on equal footing somehow proves that people don't want the product on it's own merit. That would only apply if the subsidy caused a product to undercut another meaning that people mainly bought it because it was cheap. But such subsidies are rarely if ever enough to cause EVs to actually undercut a comparable ICE vehicle. Obviously an EV is likely to have lower lifetime cost, but that's part of the merits of the car, not unlike an ICE car with better than average fuel economy or maintenance costs.