On December 21, 2022, the Trudeau Liberals announced they are pushing forward with mandating that all vehicles sold by 2035 will be electric.
A zero-emission vehicle sales target was unveiled by Liberal Minister of Environment Steven Guilbeault on Wednesday December 21, 2022 requiring auto retailers to increase EV sales each year.
The new legislation will demand manufacturers and importers to hit annual sales targets set out by the government. Starting in 2026, 20% of all vehicles sold in Canada must be electric.
The target will grow to 60% of all vehicles sold by 2030 and finally by 2035 requiring 100% of all new vehicles sold in Canada to be electric.
Left wing politicians and environmental activists around the world praise and promote EV’s without any mention of their environmental destruction for EV resource extraction and battery efficiency being reduced in cold weather.
Critics argue that the process of extracting minerals such as nickel, cobalt, and lithium to make lithium-ion batteries results in significant emissions.
“With Canada’s deep experience in auto-parts manufacturing, vehicle assembly, and with all of the critical minerals needed for batteries found here, Canada is well positioned to be a leader in making the vehicles that the world is looking to drive,” claimed Guilbeault in a press release.
“With (zero emission vehicles), we can cut pollution, create jobs, and make life more affordable for families across the country.”
The government of Canada accurately points out EV’s can be driven in very cold weather but they neglect to speak about how the cold effects the efficiency of the battery at such cold temperatures.
“Electric vehicles can be driven in very cold weather. ZEVs are common in countries with cold winters like Norway, were over 70 percent of new car sales are ZEVs” the government of Canada said in its proposal to regulate sales targets for zero-emission vehicles.
Electric vehicles can lose up to 30% of their range in cold temperatures, according to a Recurrent study. The study tested temperatures as low as 20 to 30 degrees Fahrenheit which is about -6.67 to -1 degrees Celsius. Most regions in Canada experience below freezing weather for several months of the year.
At the start of the year, sales of completely electric or hybrid vehicles represented only 7.2% of new automobile registrations. They held only 5.2% of the market in 2021.
Less than 5% of federal fleet vehicles purchased in the previous year were electric, according to government data, meaning that the federal government has failed to reach its own targets.
Blacklock’s Reporter was the first to report on an Inquiry of Ministry, which found that just 137 of the 2,899 vehicles the federal government has purchased since 2020 were electric or hybrid.