Canada’s bold electric vehicle (EV) plan was once the big deal in the country’s climate policy, but now that reality has set in, it looks like the program is going to fail.
For years, Canadian politicians proudly led the country towards an electric future with strong rebates, strict rules, and a commitment to meeting tough emission reduction targets. But recent events have revealed serious problems that have sent the country’s electric vehicle plans into a tailspin.
The first cracks showed up earlier this year when the federal and provincial rebate programs ended. The iZEV program in Ottawa, which gave up to $5,000 per vehicle, ended suddenly in January 2025 when the money ran out. Quebec followed suit and stopped its provincial rebates for a short time.
They came back at a much lower rate, dropping from $7,000 to $4,000 in April 2025. British Columbia ended its popular rebate program completely after making it harder to qualify, which meant about 75 percent of EV models were no longer eligible. This makes it much harder for people thinking of switching to electric vehicles to make a financial case for it.
The market reacted quickly and strongly. EV sales, which had been increasing, stopped right away. Statistics Canada says EV sales reached their highest point in December 2024 when they made up about 18.29 percent of all sales in Canada. By April 2025, they had dropped to 7.53 percent.
British Columbia, which used to be the leader in EV adoption, saw its market share drop from almost 25 percent in mid-2024 to about 15.4 percent by June 2025. Quebec, which is now the leader in Canada, had similar problems, with sales dropping sharply even though the province has always been enthusiastic about electrification.
There are harsh economic facts behind these numbers. People who want to buy electric vehicles say cost is the biggest problem. Middle-class Canadians can no longer afford electric vehicles because the rebates were taken away. Infrastructure problems make this worse; public charging networks are still not good enough or reliable enough, which makes owning an electric vehicle impractical for many potential buyers.
Even though the government has been working to install thousands of new charging stations, a recent survey found 41 percent of British Columbians thought the current infrastructure was not enough.
The Canadian government’s EV sales mandate has become the big problem, making things even worse. The mandate was meant to ensure 20 percent of all new cars sold by 2026 would be zero-emission and 100 percent by 2035. Now most people think this is impossible.
Auto industry representatives, including the CEOs of Ford, GM, and Stellantis Canada, have told Prime Minister Mark Carney in no uncertain terms that the targets can’t be met in the current market. They say enforcing these rules without any incentives could cost automakers up to $20,000 per vehicle and mean fewer jobs and less production in Canada.
At the same time, geopolitical factors have made things even tougher. The Trump administration’s U.S. tariffs and the end of U.S. EV incentives and mandates have had a huge impact on the Canadian auto industry, which sends 85 percent of its production to the U.S. market.
Critics say Canada’s whole EV policy is a case of good intentions running into hard economic and practical realities. The Fraser Institute says directly that the EV mandate is the wrong way to choose which technologies will succeed and which will fail, hurting markets and putting an unfair burden on lower-income people.
Even people who care about sustainability agree the mandates as they currently stand don’t fit the market and consumer behaviour.
Canada’s EV program needs major policy changes now if it’s to survive and grow. Barry Penner of the Energy Futures Institute and other industry leaders say a more gradual and flexible approach is better. This would include bringing back rebates, improving charging infrastructure, and making sure the mandates match market conditions.
If these changes aren’t made, the good intentions behind Canada’s EV plans will be derailed, and economic stability and real environmental progress will be at risk.
