Electric short in Canada

If you ever find yourself in a discussion about electric car ownership in Canada, you're likely to find yourself saying things or hearing things like "electric vehicles aren't practical in Canada because it's colder here", or "electric cars are too expensive", or "what's the point of having an electric car if it's hard to find charging places".

You'd definitely be correct on that last point, not as much on the other two.

In Canada, there are a measly 23,620 electric cars on the road. Trust me though, it has less to do with price and nothing to do with our colder climate.

In the US, especially greener states like California, Oregon and Washington, the price of an electric car is offset by huge government subsidies. For example, in California, buying a Chevy Bolt will get you an instant $2,500 rebate and a whopping $7,500 federal tax credit, meaning you'd pay $10,000 less than your negotiated dealer price. That's pretty good. It should come as no surprise then, that there are over 512,000 electric cars in that state alone and now make up 10% of all sales.

In Canada, some provinces have green vehicle rebates, but some, like Alberta, have none, and Ontario is scrapping their original up to $14,000 rebate under new Conservative management. BC might get you up to $5,000 in rebates, up to $8,000 in Quebec.

In Norway, more than 183,000 electrics were on the road, which represents 10% of the entire fleet of cars. There are more than 40,000 pre-orders waiting to be filled. Norway also represents the greenest fleet of electrics, because 98% of Norway's electricity is generated by hydro power. Electric cars were exempt the 25% VAT and any other purchasing fees, making them much more comparable to ICE (internal combustion engine) cars. Electrics do well in Norway even in winter, because while charging, an electric can be pre-heated so that no battery power is required to get the car to a comfortable temperature. The battery is only needed to maintain the warmth.

The real hurdle to electric car adoption in Canada, IMHO, is the lack of infrastructure. Although we have a couple thousand charging stations, not all of them are publicly accessible. There are only about 120 Tesla stations, and they only serve Tesla models. California by comparison has a whopping 15,193 chargers (1/3 of all US chargers).

To give you an idea of the difference, Vancouver, considered to be a very green part of Canada, has 5 Tesla superchargers spread between Hope and Whistler BC, with 5 more coming online in the next year or so. In the Los Angeles area, there are 24 Superchargers now, with an additional 43 more coming online soon.

In China, there are 1,227,000 electric cars on the roads. They also have 213,903 charging stations.