Toronto, Ont – Despite Canada’s impressive new Federal rebate program, EV sales have been plummeting.
Recent reports have revealed that within the first six months of this year, the sale of electric vehicles has dropped 55 percent in Ontario.
In June of 2018, the Progressive Conservative government called for a cancellation of the Ontario Rebate program that had offered up to 14,000 dollars to Canadians who chose to drive cleaner and greener.
Despite the Federal government’s quick efforts to bring back a new rebate program spring of 2019, it was seemingly too late.
“Definitely, there was quite a significant decline,” Cara Clairman, president and CEO of Plug’n Drive told CBC.”Especially right after the rebates were cut.”
The Federal government had an overall goal that by 2025, more than 10 percent of cars on the road would be electric. Currently, only 3.5 percent of vehicles are.
“It’s going to be challenging for the federal government to meet that target” stated Al Cormier of Electric Mobility Canada. “If Ontario was in the game again it would make the whole thing a lot easier.”
At the moment, British Columbia and Quebec are the two provinces with the most amount of electric vehicles on the streets.
B.C. currently sits at an impressive 10 percent, closely followed by Quebec’s 7.
Despite the lessening in rebate return (the Federal government’s new implementation is only $5000), Clairman says that costliness shouldn’t stop drivers from looking into getting an EV.
“The total cost of ownership, when you take into account that you’re not going to be paying for gas and there’s less maintenance,” stated Clairman. “The total cost of ownership today is actually lower for an EV than for most gas cars.”
