Taxpayers wallets will be tapped for nearly $100 billion to achieve the Trudeau government’s radical electric vehicle mandate goals by 2035, according to new government figures.
The Regulatory Impact Analysis Statement found most of the spending will be for higher demand for electricity usage and could limit consumer choice, reported BlackLock’s Reporter.
“The proposed amendments are expected to lead to a loss of consumer choice as the non-zero emission vehicles which are preferred by some will eventually be phased out of the light duty vehicle market,” wrote Environment Canada.
“Furthermore zero emission vehicles are expected to generally cost more than non-zero emission vehicles and this vehicle price increase could lead to a reduction in the quantity of vehicles purchased.”
The “overall higher electricity costs” for the analysis period of 2026 to 2050 are predicted to be $55.8 billion, whereas the “total incremental expenses to buy ZEVs and home chargers” are estimated to be $24.5 billion.
Since 2018, nearly $16 billion of taxpayer money has been invested in federal subsidies to the vehicle and battery manufacturers and $1.7 billion in subsidies to those who can afford to buy ZEVs between 2023 and 2025 in the form of a rebate.
The hefty $99 billion price tag is not including the cost for retraining mechanics, maintenance costs, insurance and energy generating plants to make sure the grid can handle it..
For the analysis Guilbeault’s department didn’t take into account “many consumers would purchase charging equipment for at-home vehicle charging.”
“Installation costs have not been accounted for in this analysis and thus may be underestimated,” said the statement.
While the fed are busy trying to mandate Canadians to buy electric vehicles, they have failed to meet their own targets it gave itself for its own fleet.
Less than 5% of vehicles owned by the government met its low-emission standards, according to a Ministry Inquiry from 2022.
Only 137 of Ottawa’s 2,899 vehicles purchased since 2020 were fully electric, and the remaining 782 were hybrids.
