Canada Wants to Impose EV Sales Quotas on Auto Dealers Starting in 2023
The federal government will act to impose targets on dealerships across Canada for electric-vehicle sales starting early in 2023. Federal Environment Minister Stephen Guilbeault wants to use quotas to help Canada catch up to a number of countries that have forged ahead in this regard and are seeing far greater numbers of EVs sold on their territory than Canada.
Similar quotas are already in place in Quebec (since 2018) and in British Columbia (since 2020), but the federal quotas would apply to automotive dealerships in all provinces.
Canada has set a target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles by 50 percent by 2030, eliminate them completely by 2035, and reach zero-emissions status as a country by 2050. Currently, vehicles account for about 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the country, so they would play a key role in helping reach that goal. Canada also wants to have 50 percent of vehicle sales in the country be zero-emissions vehicles by 2030, just eight years from now.
When we look at current EV sales in Canada, there’s good news and bad. According to the Canadian Press, Canadians bought more electric vehicles in the last two years than in the previous eight years combined. But only 3 percent of vehicle purchases are of all-electric or plug-in hybrid models.
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