British Columbia has abandoned a rebate program for electric vehicles that it paused six months ago and is scrapping a mandate that every new vehicle sold in the province must be zero-emission by 2035.
Energy Minister Adrian Dix is shifting goal-setting, cash incentives and blame for high electric-vehicle prices to Ottawa.
Dix said the 100-per-cent sales goal, and a 90-per-cent target for 2030 were no longer “realistic,” and the government saw rebates “as a federal responsibility.”
“The rebate programs were never intended to be permanent,” Dix said of the provincial scheme that offered up to $4,000 for battery-electric-vehicle buyers before it was paused in May.
Dix told reporters in Victoria that the NDP government would introduce legislation next year to revise B.C.’s mandates, bringing them in line with targets the federal government is expected to announce in coming months.
“I think targets should be things that you can reach with efforts,” Dix said. “So they shouldn’t be what you expect will happen, but what you can realistically reach with effort.”
Dix said the new targets had not yet been set because a review under CleanBC, the province’s climate plan, wasn’t complete, and the federal government had not finished a review of its own mandates.
Federal officials said earlier this month that Ottawa would unveil proposed changes to its electric-vehicles sales mandate this winter. They originally required zero-emission sales of 20 per cent next year, rising to 100 per cent in 2035, in line with B.C.’s previous target.
But on Sept. 5, Prime Minister Mark Carney paused a 2026 rollout of the EV mandate and launched the review.
Dix said matching B.C.’s mandate with Ottawa’s would create efficiencies.
“We believe they should be the same,” he said.
At the same time, Dix partly blamed Ottawa for inflating electric-vehicle prices by placing “considerable tariffs” on EVs made in China.
“I leave it to the Government of Canada to deal with our complicated relationship with the [People’s] Republic of China,” he said.
B.C.’s electric vehicle mandate aims for 100 per cent of vehicle sales to be zero-emission by 2035. Evan Pivnick, the program manager at Clean Energy Canada, says his organization is advocating for a pivot in the provincial government’s approach. He tells BC Today host Michelle Eliot mandates can be recalibrated to reflect current market conditions, while retaining purchase incentives for zero-emission vehicles.
While the later mandates may be redrawn, Dix said all automakers are on track to meet a 26-per-cent sales goal for 2026, while adding that current legislation allows a grace period for automakers, who might not hit the targets.
When asked whether automakers should still be working toward the current goals, Dix said they should be working to ensure that British Columbians have access to electric vehicles.
Blair Qualey, president and CEO of the New Car Dealers Association of B.C., said in a statement distributed by Dix’s ministry that the announcement represented “helpful interim steps that provide short-term relief for consumers and dealers.”
Qualey said the provincial government’s review of ZEV mandates “must directly address affordability, including EV rebate support.”
The federal government has announced $22.7 million for eight projects to improve EV charging in B.C. The money will go to installing more than 480 new EV chargers along main travel routes in public places, workplaces and multi unit residential buildings.
While Dix said it would be up to the federal government to provide any rebates to encourage zero-emission vehicle sales, he said B.C. would focus on building up charging infrastructure.
The province has 7,000 public charging stations, and Dix said in the statement that it was on track to meet a target of 10,000 by 2030.
When the provincial government paused its rebate program in spring, it cited a “time of economic instability.” Ottawa stopped the federal rebate program in January.
Provincial rebates may be off the table, but Dix said the government would make “significant regulatory changes” to support EV sales, expanding the range of vehicles eligible for a zero-emission-vehicle credit program for automakers and introducing a program to reward makers that improve access to financing incentives for EV buyers.
“They are important steps, but they are not major steps,” Dix said, when asked how government plans to meet its yet-to-be-announced mandate without financial support.
“I would say on that question, there are steps we hope that automakers will pick up on and will benefit consumers in B.C.”
Hon Chan, B.C. Conservative critic for climate solutions and climate readiness, said Dix’s announcement confirmed the Opposition’s position that the EV mandates were not achievable.
“We know that it’s unfair for B.C. consumers and also for the new car dealer,” Chan said.
But Chan said the announcement would create “confusion and uncertainty” among car dealers as they waited months for more details, he said.
He predicted the percentage of EV sales would drop by double-digits without rebates.
Dix’s announcements come six months after Energy Futures, an energy think-tank, released government documents questioning whether B.C. could hit the 90-per-cent sales target by 2030.
Canada’s electric vehicle sales mandate requires that 20 per cent of all new vehicles sold in the country are zero-emission ones by next year, and B.C. aims to achieve 100 per cent ZEV sales by 2035. Barry Penner, chair of the Energy Futures Institute, says both federal and B.C. mandates are not attainable. He tells BC Today guest host Amy Bell the technical review of the B.C. Zero-Emissions Vehicle Act will look into possibly reducing the percentage required and reinstating rebates.
The documents, which The Canadian Press has since obtained, say “recent developments” led to a consensus that reaching the target will be “challenging.”
The documents say EV adoption in B.C. has “levelled off” because of numerous factors, including affordability concerns, gaps in the charging infrastructure and changes in policy.
Zero-emission vehicles accounted for 22.4 per cent of all light-duty vehicle sales in the province in 2024, up from 0.8 per cent in 2015, but down from 22.7 per cent in 2023.
B.C. introduced the zero-emission mandate in September 2019 through legislation as part of its CleanBC program to lower emissions by 40 per cent by 2030.
