Question Period Note: Zero-Emission Vehicles

• The Government of Canada is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from all sectors, including the transportation sector, which represents almost a quarter of Canada’s total annual emissions.
• To move towards decarbonizing of the transportation sector, the federal government has set ambitious Zero-Emission Vehicles (ZEV) sales targets of 10% of new light-duty vehicle sales by 2025, 30% by 2030, and 100% by 2040.
• To help meet these targets, Budget 2019 allocated $700 million towards new measures including a federal incentive of up to $5,000 for the purchase or lease of eligible ZEVs.
• The incentive program has already had a positive impact on Canadian ZEV sales. Since its launch in May 2019, over 33,000 Canadians and Canadian businesses have benefitted from the point-of-sale incentive. Between May 2019 and November 2019, ZEV sales were up 27% compared with the same period last year.
• Zero-emission vehicles represented roughly 3% of all new, light-duty vehicles sold in the first three quarters of 2019, compared to roughly 2% during the same period in 2018.

• Zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) are vehicles that can operate without producing tailpipe emissions, such as battery electric, plug-in hybrid electric, and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
• One ZEV on the road can prevent up to four metric tonnes of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per year. ZEVs have the potential to significantly reduce Canada’s GHG emissions.
• To accelerate adoption of ZEVs in Canada, a number of federal initiatives are underway, such as investments in charging infrastructure across the country, a business tax write-off for the purchase of ZEVs, voluntary supply agreements with automakers, and an Incentive for Zero-Emission Vehicles (iZEV) Program. Other Government measures are also incenting greater availability and adoption of ZEVs in Canada, including carbon pricing, the Clean Fuel Standard and the LDV GHG regulations.
• A number of provinces have also implemented programs and other measures to increase the up-take of ZEVs. Both Quebec and British Columbia provide purchase incentives for new ZEVs. Quebec also has a ZEV mandate that requires automakers to meet ZEV sales targets, and British Columbia is in the process of developing a regulation that will require automakers to meet sales targets towards the full phase out of the sale of combustion engine Light Duty Vehicles (LDVs) in the province by 2040.

Federal iZEV Program

• The federal iZEV program provides a point-of-sale rebate for the purchase or lease of eligible ZEVs under $45,000, as the higher purchase price of ZEVs is a barrier to ZEV uptake. Under the program there are two levels of incentive:
• Battery-electric, hydrogen fuel cell, and longer range plug-in hybrid vehicles are eligible for an incentive of $5,000; and,
• Shorter-range plug-in hybrid electric vehicles are eligible for an incentive of $2,500.

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