Automotive industry experts say car buyers in B.C. will be pushed away from electric vehicles due to the province’s decision to change its rebate program.
On Tuesday, the government lowered the manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) for vehicles qualifying for the CleanBC Go Electric rebate program to $50,000 from $55,000. That removes about 75 per cent of electric and hybrid models from the rebate program.
Blair Qualey, president and CEO of the New Car Dealers Association of BC, said the decision will directly impact consumers, dealers and automakers.
“Everybody in the industry has been pretty shocked and astonished by this sudden change to the program,” he told Global News.
“It’s a dramatic change and a great concern to many.”
The rebate program provides up to $4,000 for qualifying zero-emission vehicles (ZEV) but now, with the lowering of the MSRP cap, those qualifying vehicles have become a lot more scarce.
In another change to the program, SUVs, station wagons and vans have been moved from the larger vehicle category (with a higher MSRP threshold) to the car category with the new lowered MSRP of $50,000.
“I think the government is facing some challenges around funding the program,” Qualey said.
“So, they’ve looked at ways in which they can make some tweaks that will help reduce the outflow of cash, while still keeping some semblance of a program.”
Qualey said the association has been working alongside the existing program for about 13 years.
“There were periods where the money ran out, the cupboard was bare and there weren’t incentive monies for consumers at that time… we saw the sales of EVs fall off a cliff,” he said.
“We anticipate that there will be a very similar situation here.
“We decided 13 years ago to be part of the solution and help the government by administering the program and getting all the dealers and the industry behind all of this. To suddenly see now the brakes put on and the rebates taken away is a problem.”
Other changes to B.C.’s EV program will have impacts beyond EV purchases, Qualey said.
The B.C’s Zero-Emission Vehicles Act also requires automakers to meet an escalating annual percentage of new zero-emission vehicles sales and leases.
Changes to the act in fall 2023 amended the original sales targets to 26 per cent of ZEV light-duty vehicle sales by 2026, 90 per cent by 2030 and 100 per cent by 2035.
“The penalties to the manufacturer of not meeting those targets are about $20K a vehicle outside of the ratio,” Qualey said.
“This is going to be very expensive for consumers because manufacturers are going to have all these penalties on everything they sell, not just EVs.”
Global News spoke with B.C. Minister of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation Josie Osborne about the program’s changes.
“EV sales have been increasing at a far faster rate than we had anticipated,” Osbourne said.
“In order for us to stay within the available funding we have, we had to make adjustments. We still have about 70 different models that are available (for the rebate program).”
Osbourne said the changes will help “lower-income families” make the switch to electric and hybrid vehicles.
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