OTTOVA – The federal government is expanding the number of eligible electric vehicles as it keeps its promise to include some of the new SUVs and pickups coming to the electric vehicle market.
Transport Minister Omar Algabra said on Friday that about four out of five Canadians are interested in making their next purchase of an electric car, but as purchase prices are still slightly higher than regular petrol cars, they need a little help to encourage them.
“We know that the future of our transport sector must be green,” he said. “And the future is zero-emission vehicles.”
Later this year, the Liberals intend to force one-fifth of the vehicles sold to be electric by 2026. Half of sales should be electric by 2030, and no new gas-powered vehicles will be allowed until 2035.
In 2021, about one in 20 new vehicles is electric.
The recent budget added another $ 1.7 billion to the popular incentive program for zero-emission vehicles. Since 2019, the program has distributed more than $ 611 million in discounts to more than 141,000 car buyers.
Initially, the maximum purchase price of a vehicle to qualify was $ 45,000 and up to $ 55,000 with options. Vehicles with at least seven seats can qualify for a maximum price of $ 55,000.
Starting Monday, the maximum price for cars will rise to $ 55,000 ($ 65,000 with options) and for trucks, SUVs and vans to $ 60,000 ($ 70,000 with options).
Battery-powered electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid vehicles and fuel cell vehicles that can travel at least 50 kilometers on a single charge will qualify for $ 5,000. Those who receive a shorter range can receive $ 2,500. Previously, only fully electric vehicles could receive the maximum amount, while plug-in hybrids received a smaller discount.
The changes added 14 new vehicles to the list and increased four plug-in hybrids from the $ 2,500 to $ 5,000 discount.
Canadians are big fans of big cars, especially SUVs and crossovers, which last year accounted for 55% of every new passenger car registered. Pickups made about 21 percent and cars 20 percent.
Until recently, almost all electric vehicles were small passenger cars or small SUV crossovers. There are more than a dozen pickups and larger electric SUVs and crossovers that will hit the market in the next two years, but their prices are above the old qualifying limit.
The limit adjustment added some new SUVs to the list, such as the hybrid Jeep Wrangler and Lincoln Corsair Grand Touring.
But the first electric pickups expected in Canada are not currently on the list. The Rivian R1T, with a suggested base price of over $ 86,000, is well above the qualifying limit. So is the F-150 Lightning, which currently starts at $ 68,000.
Joanna Kyriazis, Clean Energy Canada’s clean transportation program manager, said the expanded program would help overcome the shock of stickers on electric vehicles for many people, but manufacturers of popular cars whose prices are not within the limit. must take into account.
She said Ford is offering a cheaper F-150 Lightning in the United States, for example.
“These new restrictions on vehicle costs, although more generous, are still sending a strong signal to carmakers: the prices of your vehicles, respectively,” she said.
An Alghabra spokeswoman said Ford had applied for an F-150 truck to be included in the program earlier this week, and the application is currently under review.
Tesla Model 3 is the most popular electric vehicle in Canada, accounting for more than 40% of the discounts granted so far. Tesla initially set the price of its Model 3 just below the eligible price, but last fall it raised the price, citing rising shipping costs, and it fell out of the dispute.
Tim Royce, president of the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association, said it was disappointing that the government was not increasing the rebate.
“Simply raising the limits to make a few more eligible vehicles without increasing the incentive does not solve the accessibility problem – so we are disappointed,” he said.
The United States offers a tax credit of up to $ 7,500 for the purchase of electric vehicles. The discount for Germany is approximately 12,400 Canadian dollars, in France up to 9,600 dollars, and in the United Kingdom – 6,800 dollars.
In 2018, Canada had similar statistics on sales of electric vehicles such as France, Germany and the United Kingdom. In 2021, sales of electric vehicles in Germany jumped to about one in four new vehicles sold, while in the United Kingdom and France they are almost one in five.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on April 22, 2022.
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