Fellow Western Canadian: how can we step up provincial incentives

[jlund]

Ontario just announced $14,000 off any EVs that retail for under $150,000. In addition, they also get incentives for home charging installation and free overnight electricity for charging: Ontario Making Electric Vehicles More Affordable

What do we get in west of Quebec and Ontario (and other provinces, territories too)? $0!

BC, where I'm living, offers $5000 off for all electric vehicles as long as they are under $77,000. There are only a handful of these and none of them, bar the yet to be delivered, Chevy Bolt, offer practical long range. BC incentives seem mightily heavy handed towards dealerships. Funnily enough, the program, cevforbc is backed by the NewDealersAssociation. Our premiere Christy Clark promised a renewal and "additional incentives and infrastructure, as well as an educational component and economic development" for the program. But that was in her climate action plan 6 months ago, and no details have emerged since.

How about you other folks outside of BC? Anybody have any inside scoop, knowledge about future incentives, or thoughts on their general frustration?

What can we do?

I've reached out to the cevforbc program, as well as our minister of Energy who leads the program from the Government side. In addition, I've signed this change.org form for a federal incentive: Government of Canada: Federal Government incentives for Canadians purchasing new electric vehicles (EV).

In my opinion, if the majority of long range all electric vehicles that are being sold are over $77,000, BC should be offering incentives for those. After all, every electric vehicle should look more appealing than their ICE competitor.

 

[jlund]

The title was meant to be 'Fellow Western Canadians'. Can't find a way to edit or delete so I suppose I'll have to leave it and pretend I was talking to you all individually.

 

[jlund]

also, your voice and support would be appreciated against #cevforbc if you agree BC should step up their game: Jordan Lund on Twitter

 

[Paul Carter]

Lets hope tomorrow's announcement on the Clean Energy Vehicle Program follows Ontario's lead.

 

[Jaff]

Not provincial, but it's time for Justin to step up with a universal (i.e. $2,500 flat) credit on the purchase of new EV's, and a (i.e. $1,000 flat) credit on the resale of used EV's for all Canadians in every province.

Our Federal Guv is very conspicuous by their absence in this arena...time to shine the spotlight on them.

 

[scottm]

Here's what I get in Alberta, and helps demonstrate a case for Tesla.. with no EV specific incentive needed:

1. - no provincial sales tax... so I'm 5 to 10% ahead just by living here... that's $5000 to $10,000 saved on my car (depending on where else you'd buy it in Canada is how you'd value this amount).
2. - no excise taxes on my fuel... (this goes for all provinces for EV's who don't fill up anything at the pump).. So we save $0.25 per litre (on average) by driving a car that would otherwise take another $1000 annually at the pump. Folks - we don't pay road tax!
3. - we have a new carbon tax in Alberta... at the pump is another $0.04 saved per liter I don't have to spend there. But I'm sure carbon tax will somehow be reflected on my electricity bill ... I figure I'll be slightly ahead on carbon tax by driving EV as opposed to gassing up. But now we're talking small dollars annually.

At my electricity rates, I'm seeing it costs me about one-third the energy cost to drive Tesla over equivalent sized gasser. This is the big one! 4000 litres annual gas at say ~$1.25 = $5000 gas... costs me $1667 electricity instead. That's a $3333 savings, annually.

Everyone with EV in Canada gets similar savings over gas... do your own math on actuals for your region. Surprise fact: Vancouver is not the worst in Canada! Look wayyyy east.

If you accept my simplified math, I'm saving $38,330 over ten years by choosing a Tesla in Alberta (as compared to rest of country). If you take that off the original asset price, the car is costing me $513/month depreciation to zero over ten years. Not a bad car for $513/month.

Not having an EV handout in Alberta did not stop me from jumping in. I didn't try to justify Tesla with an up front business case based on this math... in fact, I hadn't done this math until just now. And now I can say it's based on actuals observed over the last couple years of driving. So I'm happy about it.

A provincial govt handout for choosing EV in provinces that charge PST.. sure, offset or remove that please. Gets the ball rolling.. but not critical. The money is in the fuel.

Can we talk about the gobs of pollution I haven't put into the air in that time? That's where govt tax/incentive hammer should hit hard. More carbon tax please. Like double or quadruple the excise tax at the pump (for carbon) and everyone benefits from reduced consumption, rather than just privileged new-car EV buyers pocketing the change of a new (unfunded) EV only incentive.

Maybe use the new fuel excise tax to pay the EV incentives... so it could be neutral thing for govt. You want to see buying behaviors change fast to improve the environment!? Do both, with direct visibility on this linkage.

But there's a cost for handing out free money. We'd also see govt having to add infrastructure improvement money to our vehicle registrations... every non-commercial vehicle maybe another $500 annually to register it. You OK with that? Answer: yes. Of course. EV'ers are getting away for free today! So even this is a half-price bargain for making roads sustainable. And EV's are heavy cars, we do proportionally more damage.

 

[jlund]

Lets hope tomorrow's announcement on the Clean Energy Vehicle Program follows Ontario's lead.

Interesting! Blair Qualey from cevforbc mentioned there was a meeting about this today when I contacted him. Looking forward to the details.

 

[Paul Carter]

Interesting! Blair Qualey from cevforbc mentioned there was a meeting about this today when I contacted him. Looking forward to the details.

He has not been a big supporter and is fighting against stronger methods, especially ZEV mandates, to support adoption. He rather renew the BC aging fleet with newer ICE vehicles which he claims the older part of the fleet is 20-30% worse emitters. He believes stronger methods to increase adoption will hurt consumer choice and their business. They lobbied our provincial government hard to stop the recommendations made by the Climate Leadership Team.

Note: Tesla Canada is a member of the New Car dealers association of BC as required to be allowed to sell cars.

... These older vehicles emit up to 20 to 30 per cent more greenhouse gases than new models.

One of the greatest reductions in emissions may be in getting B.C. to turn over its fleet. Billions of dollars of green tech investment by the auto industry mean that new vehicles are getting more efficient every year. Instead of emphasizing the small portion of CEVs currently sold, we could focus on improvements in every single vehicle on the market.

We agree that every industry should do their part in helping meet emissions target. For the auto industry, this solution lies in proactive incentives that promote EV sales, not in policies that hurt both consumers and businesses.

PressReader.com - Connecting People Through News

Incentives-based environmental policies - New Car Dealers

 

[jlund]

He has not been a big supporter and is fighting against stronger methods, especially ZEV mandates, to support adoption.

Ah, I suspected this from what I've heard and read. It's a shame from my perspective. Really hope the climate action plan can break through the greed and deniers but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[jlund]

Ah, I suspected this from what I've heard and read. It's a shame from my perspective. Really hope the climate action plan can break through the greed and deniers but I'm not holding my breath.

I love the logic of a 'dealers association' thinking the solution is to sell more new cars. That's a tough pill to swallow given the footprint of producing a new car likely makes the emission reduction minimal.

We need to sell more all electric long range vehicles. To do so, until the 3, Bolt, and others are sold at mass, incentives should exist for every EV.

 

[EVie'sDad]

Embrace the West Coast of the U.S. to join the Canadian nation. Musk could then speak honestly about improving our world and the environment without the undue obstruction of the orange cheeto.

Canadians invite California, Oregon and Washington to join Canada | ThinkPol

 

[Paul Carter]

Embrace the West Coast of the U.S. to join the Canadian nation. Musk could then speak honestly about improving our world and the environment without the undue obstruction of the orange cheeto.

Canadians invite California, Oregon and Washington to join Canada | ThinkPol

Yes we'd love to have you. Go Cascadia!

 

[Paul Carter]

So no real changes to the program, they just announced more funds (additional $40 million) to keep it going. Details posted at BC 2015 Clean Energy Vehicle Incentive and a fuelling/charging infrastructure Program.

 

[S'toon]

If it were up to my Premier I'm sure he'd add an extra EV tax, to double the price. The man's so in bed with big oil it's depressing.

 

[scottm]

I heard Alberta is about to make some announcement this week, maybe early as Monday, that would benefit renewable energy and EV drivers ... bit of a mystery..

I've been soft campaigning the new AB govt (NDP) since they stepped into power... which included parading my MLA around in my Tesla when it was shiny and new.

We'll see!! (hoping)

 

[jlund]

Interesting! Looking forward to hearing some updates this week

 

[Jack007]

All silence now.... nothing new this week?

 

[scottm]

Rachel and one of her ministers have been on the air in the last few days, talking about packaging up a new renewable (read: solar) incentive program. There's a decent article on CBC covering it. It might cover other micro-generation (wind). The bottom line is they're asking for "a few weeks yet" because "it's more important to get this right" than doing it quickly and missing some element.

OK... so. I have been interested in PV solar project for my house, and this might tip it into the do-it-now pile. I would love to power my Tesla from the sun, directly, under my nose. I know I can buy friendly green power (bullfrogpower.com) but I'm currently locked into a power contract for ... couple more years.

In the meantime, I'd love to spin my meter backwards. And there's no way I'd buy enough solar to generate more than household consumes, with the car. So help me with the upfront cost of PV and I can finally tell people "I don't use the dirty electricity generation of Alberta.. I'm driving on sunshine and zero means zero emissions!"

p.s. you guys in Calgary have a much easier time (less regulated by city, and less costly) of doing residential solar than we do in Edmonton. I wish our city regulations were equal.. and we use Calgary as the model for the province.