Policy Details - 2030 Electric Vehicle Strategy and EV Regulation: National ZEV Mandate

23. Adopt a national ZEV Mandate for passenger vehicles requiring 90% ZEV sales by 2030.

Canada’s existing EV availability standard sets an EV supply target of 100% in 2035 and only 60% in 2030. EMC believes that, with the right policies in place, Canada will achieve this target earlier, resulting in cleaner air and reduced greenhouse gas pollution. EMC therefore recommends that Canada adopt a target of at least 90% in 2030 to ensure dedicated time and attention can be placed on electrifying the final 10% of new vehicle sales – in Canada’s rural and northern communities – between 2030 and 2035.

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A sufficiently stringent national ZEV target, accounting for compliance flexibilities, would push automakers to introduce more EV models, increasing consumer choice and reducing wait times for EVs, to help meet the ever-growing demand for EVs in Canada. A national ZEV standard, requiring at least 90% ZEV sales by 2030, would also reduce vehicle costs, deliver better value for infrastructure programs, attract industrial production, and drive innovation to supply the growing domestic ZEV demand. In addition, it would help level the playing field across Canada, earlier than the existing EV Availability Standard. Today, most EV supply goes to the two provinces that already have ZEV standards in place: British Columbia and Quebec. Federal interim ZEV targets need to be sufficiently high to attract ZEV supply across the country, rather than only in provinces where ZEVs also generate provincial credits. 

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