New era of clean-energy vehicles is here

The emergence of clean energy vehicles over the past two decades has been a gradual one – but the trend that has emerged in recent months demonstrates we may be entering the dawn of a new era in electric, hydrogen and plug-in hybrid vehicle sales. B.C. has the highest per capital EV adoption rate in Canada and the province also leads in market share of electric vehicle sales in this country at 3.7 per cent. In 2017, the CEVforBC program saw almost 1,800 applications processed for clean energy vehicles – a 20 per cent increase over 2016. Between April and June of this year, more than 1,400 applications were paid out to consumers. Remarkably, during a two-day period in June, a record 75 applications were submitted.

This is an exciting, but equally challenging, time for auto manufacturers, dealers, governments and consumers. On one hand, we are seeing an increasingly positive response from consumers but, adopting new technology takes time and requires proper infrastructure, such as charging stations, to be in place.

A variety of surveys have shown there are a number of valid reasons that consumers are still reluctant to buy EVs. As the association representing new car dealers across B.C., we recently conducted independent research involving 500 drivers, province-wide - to get a snapshot of opinions on the issue of EVs and factors that may motivate or hinder greater adoption of clean energy vehicles.

Some of the more interesting findings, include the following: