Advocates calling for return to electric vehicle rebate in Ontario
City aiming for 30% of all vehicles to be electric by 2030
The city of Toronto has an ambitious goal: by 2030, it wants 30 per cent of all vehicles on the road to be electric. But currently, that number is only between three and four per cent.
So what's the hold up?
Canadian drivers' main concerns about electric vehicles include up front purchase price, repairs and maintenance, battery replacement and a lack of charging stations, according to the EY Mobility Consumer Index report released this year.
A new electric vehicle in Canada costs an average of $67,920 — which is about $6,400 more than the average for all new vehicles across the market, according to car valuation service Canadian Black Book
That price difference can sometimes reach between 15 to 20 per cent, said Daniel Ross, senior manager of insights and residual with Canadian Black Book.
"It's going to be a very tough sell in an already unaffordable environment," he said.
Fewer repairs for electric vehicles, says CAA associate VP
But electric vehicles don't have the wear and tear of normal engines and don't require oil changes, says Teresa de Felice, associate vice president of government and community relations at CAA.
"You can offset that upfront extra payment probably somewhere in the range of three to seven years," she said.
Charging electric vehicles, though, can also be pricey. Public charging stations in Canada have a wide range of pricing and no standardized fee.
Some stations charge per minute and some by the hour, others a flat fee and some are free, according to a CBC Marketplace investigation in January.
Charging at home is comparatively cheaper and more convenient. Buying a level 2 battery to charge electric vehicles can set drivers back between $800 and $3,000, according to data from CAA and Toronto Hydro.
Cara Clairman, president and CEO of electric vehicle advocacy group Plug'n Drive, said she spends about 50 cents to fully charge her electric car at home.
"People imagine this is a thing that's going to be more expensive, but really, you need to do the math for yourself," she said.
Many city-owned public chargers not fast-charging
The city is expecting 486 public chargers to be in city owned parking lots by the end of 2024 — though apps that track charging stations across several networks, such as ChargeHub Canada and PlugShare, count as many as 3,000.
Many city-owned public chargers are not fast-charging. For electric vehicle owner Baris Eroglu, he needs to plug in his car for up to 7 hours to get his battery to 100 per cent — on top of paying for parking.
Instead, Eroglu said he drives an extra half an hour to Etobicoke to get free parking while he charges at a non-city operated charging station.
Charging station access is expected to expand as early as 2025, after a number of car manufacturers signed on with Tesla to adopt a North American charging standard on new electric vehicles.
Daniel Breton, president and CEO of Electric Mobility Canada, says the agreement will have a large impact, as drivers can be assured they can travel anywhere in the continent.
On drivers' concerns about needing to replace batteries for electric vehicles, Breton says it's rare and a "non-issue."
Batteries last longer than expected and can be fixed, rather than replaced, by specialized mechanics, he said. But he said some mechanics may have limited expertise with electric vehicles and fixing batteries.
"Because this is a new technology, for some people, the transition is hard," Breton said.
Ontario lagging behind Quebec in adopting EVs
Advocates say a rebate in Ontario would encourage more people to choose electric vehicles. The province did launch an electric vehicle rebate in 2010, but that was scrapped by Premier Doug Ford's government in 2018.
Seven provinces currently have a rebate, stacking on top of federal incentives of up to $5,000. In Quebec, which has some of the highest rebates, nearly 33 per cent of all registered vehicles are zero emission, according to Statistics Canada.
But in Ontario, that number is only about nine per cent.
In a statement to CBC Toronto, a spokesperson for Ontario's Minister of Economic Development Vic Fedeli said the province is focusing on supplying electric vehicles.
Provincial manufacturing in the sector is a boost to help Toronto reach its 2030 goal, said James Nowlan, the executive director of the city's environment and climate division.
Even if the city doesn't meet the target, he said he's confident they'll get pretty close.
"When you're talking about climate change, it's important to have ambition," Nowlan said.
With files from Shannon Martin and Paulina Abad