According to Bloomberg, Canadian automakers say it is doubtful whether consumer demand for electric cars is enough to achieve the government’s goal of phasing out new gasoline-powered cars by 2035.
Executives at Toyota Motor Corp.
And Honda Motor Co.
Expect consumers to buy electric cars if they are more affordable, meet consumers’ mileage needs, and provide consumers with enough charging infrastructure.
However, these conditions have not yet been met.
At present, electric vehicles still account for only a small part of the Canadian car market.
In 2023, only 11% of new cars registered in Canada were pure electric, plug-in hybrid or hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BloombergNEF) recently lowered its forecast for electric vehicle sales in Canada, predicting that electric vehicles will account for about 70 per cent of new passenger car sales in Canada by 2035.
According to the Canadian Black Book (Canadian Black Book), the average price of a new car in Canada is C $66000 (US $48000), while the average price of a new pure electric car is C $73000 (US $53000).
The government says its incentive program provides buyers of zero-emission cars with financial subsidies of up to C $5000 (US $3645.
4) per vehicle, which helps make electric vehicles more affordable and encourages more consumers to buy electric cars.
increase sales of electric vehicles.
However, many potential electric car buyers are hesitant.
Recurrent, a Seattle-based start-up that evaluates electric car batteries, says the range of lithium-ion batteries could fall by more than 20 per cent at temperatures below freezing.
But carmakers such as Toyota say they are working to improve mileage while balancing weight and size.
Canada aims to have 84500 charging stations and 45 hydrogen filling stations by 2029, and part of its construction funding will come from the government’s zero-emission vehicle infrastructure plan.
The Department of Natural Resources of Canada estimates that the country will need about 200000 public charging stations by 2035, and the country hopes that private companies will also finance the construction of charging stations.
Members of the auto parts industry have been calling on the Canadian government to bring its emissions targets in line with those of the United States, which is relatively less aggressive, and plans to have more than 50% of new cars purely electric by 2032.
But Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Justin Trudeau) is firmly committed to his environmental goals.
“the Canadian government will continue to assess the progress of its ambitious zero-emission vehicle sales target to meet our commitment to climate change,” Transport Canada spokesman Hicham Ayoun wrote in an email.
Canadian politicians, including Ontario Prime Minister Doug Ford, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Finance Minister Fang Huilan, attended Honda’s media event at Honda’s factory in Alliston, Ontario.
Despite concerns about the speed at which consumers can buy electric cars, Honda plans to invest billions of dollars to speed up production of electric cars in Canada’s most populous province and serve some markets in the US.
Jean Marc Leclerc, CEO of Honda Canada, admitted in an interview: “to get people to buy electric cars, there are a lot of practical problems to be solved in the process, and people need to build confidence to promote the success of electrification transformation.
Today, we may not be able to fully meet the target purchase rate required by the government, but we know that it will be achieved one day.
” Leclerc said Honda plans to expand its business in Alliston, Ontario, to produce hybrid and all-electric vehicles to meet changing consumer demand.
For consumers who are hesitant about pure electric cars, they are more likely to accept hybrid cars.
But if vehicles are not plugged in, they will not be included in the government’s zero-emission car target because they still use internal combustion engines.
Honda’s goal is to reduce the cost of car batteries made in Ontario by 20 per cent and manufacturing costs by 35 per cent by using a local raw material supply chain, Leclerc added.
Toyota, by contrast, has temporarily shelved plans to produce electric cars in Canada.
Frank Voss, president of Toyota Motor Canada, said the company was cautious because the demand and support for electrification was not yet in place.
At the same time, Toyota is focusing on the transition to hybrid vehicles.
Toyota bZ4X.
Photo Source: Toyota Voss said in an interview with Bloomberg: “We need to re-examine the goal to make sure it is consistent with reality.
” The government can only do so much to attract consumers to buy the cars they want.
Consumers will choose what they need.
” Voss confessed: “Last week I drove my plug-in hybrid to two different charging stations in Toronto and all five charging posts were broken.
With the infrastructure sufficient to power electric vehicles, this will provide a huge support for consumers to buy electric vehicles.
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