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The Carney government’s new electric vehicle strategy is being welcomed by both vehicle dealers in Saskatchewan and advocates for EVs.
Ottawa is scrapping the future mandated requirement for electric vehicles and replacing it with more stringent emissions standards. It is also bringing back a rebate program for electric vehicle buyers.
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“Dealers and manufacturers both agreed that, given the choice, we want to work towards a cleaner, better emission standard,” Larry Heggs of the Saskatchewan Automobile Dealers Association said in an interview. “And that’s exactly what they’ve asked for. So I think it’s good timing for the incentive program put in by the federal government.”
Heggs said the EV mandate was something his organization had lobbied to scrap since it was first introduced. He said now the market can help move Canada towards lower emissions.
“It’s not that we don’t think (electric vehicles) are coming, it’s just we’re happy that we’re not forced to a direction, because at the end of the day, the market will dictate what we sell. And if that’s what consumers want, then that’s what we’ll bring in,” he said.
Heggs said there are approximately 2,700 electric vehicles registered in Saskatchewan, out of a total of 1.4 million vehicles of all types.
One of those 2,700 EVs is owned by Jerilyn Nixon, secretary of the Saskatchewan Electric Vehicle Association. While she’s sad about the removal of the mandate, she believes rebates will help sell more EVs.
“We did see a decrease in EV sales in Saskatchewan when the rebate went away,” she said. “People still bought, but it wasn’t at the extent that people were going to buy. Some people have been waiting for the EV rebates to come back to buy,” she said.
Jerilyn Nixon has a 2014 Nissan Leaf EV. (Jerilyn Nixon/Submitted)
The association has an annual event called Electrify Regina, being planned for May 30, and she hopes this will increase the interest.
“Last year, we did see a little bit of a decline in our people coming to the show, but for the most part, we’ve had close to 800, maybe 1000 at shows before,” Nixon said.
Nixon said there are gaps in the charging network in Saskatchewan, mainly in rural areas. She hopes Ottawa’s $1.5 billion commitment to charging infrastructure will help fill in those gaps in this province.
