Vehicle manufacturers, dealers call for end to Electric Vehicle mandates

“Federal government’s mandated ZEV sales targets are increasingly unrealistic and must end“

On January 14th on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada’s vehicle manufacturers and auto dealers formally called for the end of the federal electric vehicle sales mandates brought in by the government in 2023.

The call to end the mandates comes in the wake of the federal government ending electric vehicle incentives under the federal iZEV program yesterday, and a failure to build adequate public charging infrastructure in Canada.

“Yesterday’s announcement by the federal government to halt all consumer incentives for zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) comes at the same time as a slowdown in the buildout of public charging infrastructure. As a result of these developments, the federal government’s mandated ZEV sales targets are increasingly unrealistic and must end,” stated Brian Kingston President and 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,” added Kingston.

“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,” said Tim Reuss, President and CEO of the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association.

“The end of the federal consumer EV purchase incentive program while maintaining Electric Vehicle mandates will be a disaster for consumers, dealers, manufacturers and the Canadian economy,” added Reuss.

“While incentives are not required forever, they do need to remain in place until at least price parity has largely been achieved, otherwise the largest barrier to EV adoption – price, will continue to hinder widespread adoption and put the government’s ZEV mandate targets increasingly at risk,” said David Adams, President & CEO of Global Automakers of Canada.

“If the government is going to mandate manufacturers to put ZEVs into the marketplace and pay severe penalties for not doing so, then government needs to ensure that it is doing its part to address key barriers to EV uptake – price and infrastructure. If they are not prepared to do that then the federal government (and Quebec and BC) must consider revising or eliminating their mandates as the fundamental assumptions and EV adoption rates on which the mandates were based, has changed,” added Adams

On Parliament Hill the auto industry also pointed out the troubling lack of preparedness and foresight within the federal government by failing to secure adequate funding for the transition to electrified transportation that it actively promoted. The federal government is now the third ZEV mandate jurisdiction to significantly restrict or eliminate incentives to assist with the purchase of zero emission vehicles.