Except translation, this story has not been edited by achinews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.
The Prairies, along with Newfoundland and Labrador, trail the rest of the country in electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure.
Unless you’re traveling on a major highway or through a major city, Jerilyn Nixon, secretary of the Saskatchewan Electric Vehicle Association, said it can be a challenge to find chargers, especially in rural areas and the northern half of Saskatchewan.
“It’s not about getting people across the state with EVs. It’s also about wanting to bring people to tourist destinations,” he said.
“We need charging stations in every small town, every museum, mall (and) even grocery stores because not everyone has access to home chargers.”
PEI has the most charging ports per capita, at 16 per 10,000 people, while the Prairie provinces and Newfoundland and Labrador have the lowest at three.
The number of electric vehicle charging ports across the country has tripled over the past five years, putting Canada at just over 30,000 ports at nearly 12,000 stations, according to data from Natural Resources Canada.
But the country is still far from the projected 442,000 and 469,000 charging ports needed to meet the needs of electric vehicles by 2035.
“At the end of the day, it’s the consumer who makes the choice on what they will buy or not,” said Tim Reuss, CEO of the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association.
“If we cannot meet their needs and demands in their communities and their environment, we will not be successful in the transition to 2035.”
Automotive industry leaders say it’s up to the states and the federal government to help increase incentives and charging infrastructure. If they don’t, the industry doesn’t believe it can reach the federal mandate of 100 percent electric vehicle sales by 2035.
“Canada needs provincial and federal action to build reliable charging infrastructure and support for zero-emissions purchasing for all market sectors,” said Reuss.
Saskatchewan, Alberta and Ontario are the only provinces that do not have provincial electric vehicle purchase incentives.
In 2018, Ontario eliminated its program that offered a $14,000 purchase rebate. Saskatchewan charges owners of registered electric vehicles an annual road usage fee of $150.
BC and Quebec are the clear EV leaders in Canada, according to Joanna Kyriazis, director of public affairs for Clean Energy Canada.
“If you look at the adoption levels of electric vehicles in those two states, we’re looking at between 22 percent and 25 percent of new car sales being electric,” Kyriazis said.
Aside from PEI, Quebec and BC have the most EV charging ports per capita in the country, at about 10 per 10,000 people. Ontario has less than six.
“We (Ontario) do not have access to consumer rebates for EVs, our public charging network is far behind where BC and Quebec are, and we are feeling the effects of that even though we are the home of EVs and their batteries. is going to be manufactured,” Kyriazis said.
BC offers rebates of up to $4,000, while electric vehicle buyers can receive up to $8,000 in Quebec. Both states recently announced upcoming plans that would scale back the programs.
(Except translation, this story has not been edited by achinews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
source link https://www.ctvnews.ca/autos/electric-vehicle-infrastructure-lags-in-prairie-provinces-1.6941003
