Ecology Action Centre wants EVs to be as easy to buy in Nova Scotia as in big provinces
To deal with what it describes as a failure of the open market, the Ecology Action Centre is calling on Ottawa to ensure zero-emission vehicles are ... The Ecology Action Centre is calling on Ottawa to ensure zero-emission vehicles are available to Canadians who want one, no matter where they live. The EAC and the Clean Foundation’s Next Ride program held an EV test-drive event in Halifax on Thursday, where Tim Whynot of Enfield drove an electric vehicle for the first time. The centre is hoping the supply of EVs will increase in the next few years but is just as concerned about charging stations. A recently completed report commissioned by the centre confirms that most EVs that come to Canada end up in B.C. and Quebec, and those provinces have regulations requiring a certain percentage of electric vehicles be available to purchase by a certain date. The waiting time here to buy an electric car can be shorter if you purchase from a manufacturer that sells their vehicles online, or if you're buying one of the more expensive ones.
Published : 2 weeks ago by Bill Spurr in Business
To deal with what it describes as a failure of the open market, the Ecology Action Centre is calling on Ottawa to ensure zero-emission vehicles are available to Canadians who want one, no matter where they live.
The EAC and the Clean Foundation’s Next Ride program held an EV test-drive event in Halifax on Thursday, where Tim Whynot of Enfield sat in and drove an electric vehicle for the first time.
“It was nice, about what I expected. Peppy, a lot of torque. I have a Honda Fit, it drives a lot like the Fit, I would say, and similar size,” said Whynot, who has EV ownership in his plans, just not right away. “Probably waiting for the grid to get a little better, the infrastructure, so I think five years, that’s just a guess. Our next vehicle will definitely be a hybrid.”
Whynot, 61, is hoping the supply of EVs will increase in the next few years but is just as concerned about charging stations.
“I don’t think we’re ready to go full EV yet. I’d like to, but I just don’t think the infrastructure is there to go to Ontario. I mean, it’s there, but it depends on how convenient it is. I know you can do it,” he said. “My thinking is that if I’m going to spend $40,000 or $50,000 on a vehicle, I want to be able to use it when I want to, I don’t want to have to pick my times. Maybe that’s old thinking, but that’s where I’m at right now.”
EAC spokesman Thomas Arnason McNeil said a recently completed report commissioned by the centre confirms that most EVs that come to Canada end up in B.C. and Quebec. Those provinces have regulations requiring a certain percentage of electric vehicles be available to purchase by a certain date.
“In British Columbia, for example, that target is 90 per cent new electric vehicle sales by 2030, so really, really high targets,” said Arnason McNeil.
“It doesn’t require anybody to buy an electric vehicle, it just says those electric vehicles have to be available for purchase, and that creates a situation in which you don’t have to wait a huge amount of time in order to purchase one of these cars.”
Arnason McNeil said in Nova Scotia only about 10 per cent of car dealerships have an electric vehicle available for purchase on the lot, and that wait times range from six months to three years.
“This is a clear example of a market failure, and what we need is government intervention,” said Arnason McNeil, who wants the federal government to let provinces opt in to regulations already in place elsewhere. “That would allow smaller provinces with less capacity to implement provincial regulations to adopt federal targets, and for those targets to be enforced in part and to be managed with the help of the federal government.”
Arnason McNeil said the report the EAC had completed by Dunsky Energy + Climate Advisors projects an opt-in mechanism could ensure an additional 65,000 electric vehicles are on the roads in Nova Scotia by 2030.
That number would mean an additional 5.2 megatons of avoided greenhouse gas emissions between now and 2050.
Arnason McNeil, currently in talks with several provinces on the issue, said the waiting time here to buy an electric car can be shorter if you purchase from a manufacturer that sells their vehicles online, or if you’re buying one of the more expensive ones.
“For the cheaper models, the models that are sold in, for example, a Chevy dealership like the Bolt is, that’s where we see really, really high wait times,” he said. “That’s not to say you can’t get lucky, but we’re advocating for a situation in which anyone can buy an electric vehicle within a reasonable amount of time.”
Topics: Canada, Shopping, Nova Scotia