Where Are Electric Vehicles in the Market?

As the trend of being environmentally friendly continues to grow, the automotive industry is trying not to be left behind, particularly with full electric vehicles being on the rise.  I had a chance to visit Plug ‘N’ Drive and met with Alan Downward. He is the Communications and Project Coordinator at Plug ‘N’ Drive. The object of this company is to be an intermediary between consumers and dealerships.  Consumers are encourage to visit Plug 'N' Drive to not only gain knowledge on EV's but to also have first hand exercise driving various models on site. With modern times, comes modern solution, a one stop showroom to view and drive various top models of vehicle. They are not being compelled into buying a vehicle, just learn about it and experience it.

Downward highlights that one out of every 10 new vehicles sold in Canada, is electric. He goes on to says he hopes to see this number increase as more and more people get educated about electric vehicles. As well, the Liberal government has mandated that by 2035 all cars sold must be electric. Downward emphasizes that the provincial government will have to do more on its part though. Incentives for consumers to buy electric vehicles, which were taken back at the moment, should be brought back. The incentive was removed by the Ford government.  It has invested in car manufacturer plants to upgrade electric vehicles.

The Federal Government wants to implement a zero emission car policy, According to an article by BNN Bloomberg.  The article goes on to claim this is going to weed out the sales of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. In 2026, 20% of new car sales will have to implement this new policy. In 2030, the sales to include this new policy will set at 60% and in 2035, 100%. The goal is that by 2035 all new vehicles sold will emit zero emissions and will meet the new regulation called the Electric Vehicle Availability Standard. 

Downward also thinks the government could provide more benefits to boost sales on electric vehicles. A consumer concern would be not enough charging stations. As a consumer people don’t want to find themselves in a lurch of charging their vehicle as opposed to just being able to find a gas station. The government could allocate funding towards gas stations making it more accessible and convenient for consumers to charge their cars.

Another incentive that the government could provide is creating a funding program for homeowners to build a charge station at home. According to Downward there are 3 levels to charging an electric vehicle. Level 1 the slowest would take approximately 8 hours to fully charge the car. Level 2 which is the one recommended for homeowners. This gives you a full charge in about 4 hours. And lastly, level 3 which charges the car fully in about 25-30 minutes. The government can help by offering a level 2 charging port at a discounted price if a consumer buys an electric vehicle within a certain time frame.

With the concern of being environmentally friendly, people feel as though the government should do more on their part.