{"id":102348,"date":"2025-10-29T18:38:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T01:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/resourcework2.devstudio.work\/?p=102348"},"modified":"2025-11-04T04:58:20","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T11:58:20","slug":"bcs-first-electric-vehicle-plan-i-think-its-dumb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/resourcework2.devstudio.work\/?p=102348","title":{"rendered":"Canada\u2019s first EV was smarter than some of today\u2019s plans"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ian MacGregor, a Canadian oil-and-gas leader and collector extraordinaire, showed us one of the gems in his amazing Canadian Museum of Making<\/a> in Alberta, a 1917 Milburn electric car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a \u201cLight Electric\u201d car, produced by the Milburn Wagon Company in Toledo, Ohio, and a big seller in its day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBack at this time,\u201d notes MacGregor, \u201cthere was kind of a battle between electric cars, steam cars, internal combustion cars. And so if you were if you were a wealthy woman back in that time and you could afford a car, you didn\u2019t want to crank it to start it. So … you got an electric car, most likely.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis was a lady\u2019s car. White gloves wouldn\u2019t be soiled by it. … You can see the little flower vases in there. That\u2019s why it\u2019s got flower vases inside it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back then, the Milburn also came with a steam-generating plant, in which you would burn wood, to produce the electricity to charge its batteries. As far back as the 1890s, electric cars were popular for their quiet operation and ease of use, outselling gas-powered cars in the U.S. at one point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, though, Canada\u2019s plans to boost the use of electric vehicles are losing their initial spark. This is no surprise to MacGregor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a series of Power Struggle interviews with Resource Works CEO Stewart Muir, MacGregor pointed in particular to BC\u2019s 2019 requirement <\/a>that 26% of new light-duty vehicle sales must be zero-emission models by 2026, rising to 90% by 2030 and 100% by 2035.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ian MacGregor (right) with Resource Works’ Stewart Muir (left) as they examine the 1917 Milburne.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about those electric vehicles\u2019 demand on mining products? And on electricity?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BC\u2019s requirement, says MacGregor, was based on something like this: \u201cI don\u2019t know where the copper comes from. I don\u2019t know where nickel comes from. I don\u2019t know how much went into getting those things here.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to tell everybody, \u2018You got to use a lot of copper and you got to use a lot of nickel. You got to use a lot of cobalt.\u2019 And oh, by the way, I don\u2019t know how the hell you\u2019re going to charge all these things up because I can\u2019t get the power to them. …\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wonder how expensive it\u2019s going to be if you do that. And so I think we\u2019re just behaving in ways that are legislated, but they\u2019re … based on what sounds good. I don\u2019t think that gets us anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for BC\u2019s supply of electrical power for electric vehicles: \u201cI think I\u2019ve heard BC is short of electricity.<\/a> … So not only don\u2019t I have electricity, I don\u2019t know how to get it to the places I need it. … I think it\u2019s dumb.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BC finally saw some of the light, it ended its programme of rebates for buyers of electric vehicles, EVs, this year. EV sales, which had been increasing, promptly plunged<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And now the Energy Futures Institute, EFI, has obtained government documents<\/a> revealing, for the first time, that BC is actively considering scaling back its legislated EV mandates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe government documents, dated June 18, 2025, acknowledge there is a \u2018consensus\u2019 that the province\u2019s Zero-Emission Vehicles Act and related regulations\u2014which require 90% of new light-duty vehicle sales to be zero-emission\u2014are \u2018challenging\u2019 as EV \u2018adoption in B.C. has levelled off\u2019 and is now dropping.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAccording to the document, sales of new electric vehicles (including plug-in hybrids) dropped to 15.3% of total vehicle sales in April, after averaging 18.5% in the first 3 months of 2025 and 22% in 2024.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barry Penner, EFI chair and a former BC environment minister, said: \u201cIt\u2019s been obvious for a long time that BC\u2019s electric vehicle targets were unattainable. A cost-of-living crisis is not the time to expect consumers to embrace expensive, new technology, especially when public charging infrastructure is not reliably available.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ottawa also had decreed nationally that, by law, 20% of all new cars sold by 2026 would be zero-emission and 100% by 2035. A shade less ambitious than BC\u2019s plan, 26% by 2026, but the federal one is also crashing out<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The feds and several provinces had offered rebates to buyers of EVs. Such rebates were applauded<\/a> by the Vancouver Electric Vehicles Association: \u201cThe rebates have helped people that were on the fence make the jump.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No surprise there, as EVs can be costly, starting at around $40,000 and with luxury SUV models hitting as much as $288,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But earlier this year, Ottawa \u201cpaused<\/a>\u201d its iZEV rebate programme that offered people up to $5,000 per vehicle. There has been no sign yet that the \u201cpause\u201d is going to end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the auto industry says that enforcing the targets without any incentives could cost automakers up to $20,000 per vehicle and mean fewer jobs and less production in Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Quebec briefly paused its \u201cRoulez Vert\u201d rebates early this year, then resumed them, but reduced to $4,000 from $7,000, in April. Now the rebates are to be phased out and end by January 1, 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Quebec has pulled the plug<\/a> on the proposed Northvolt EV battery factory after spending $510 million on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BC still offers Go Electric <\/a>rebates on zero-emission motorcycles, cargo e-bikes, utility trucks, buses and EV chargers, but as of now says it has received \u201ca significant volume of applications,\u201d so it is not accepting new applications at this time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, a survey<\/a> by EFI has found that BC residents are less keen these days on electric vehicles:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAffordability and practicality remain the biggest hurdles, with 64% citing high purchase prices, 46% citing limited driving range, and 43% citing a lack of charging infrastructure as reasons for not purchasing an EV.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Resource Works has shown<\/a> how \u201cCanadians are against aggressive EV mandates because the policies behind them are not based on reality.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Resource Works adds: \u201cThe numbers tell the story. Statistics Canada reported that EVs accounted for 18.29 percent of new vehicle sales in December 2024. Just four months later, when Ottawa\u2019s iZEV programme ran out of funds and provincial rebates ended, that figure crashed to 7.53 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn British Columbia, once a leader in EV adoption, the market share dropped from nearly 25 percent in mid-2024 to 15 percent a year later.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And: \u201cThere are harsh economic facts behind these numbers. People who want to buy electric vehicles say cost is the biggest problem<\/a>. Middle-class Canadians can no longer afford electric vehicles because the rebates were taken away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInfrastructure 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back to Ian MacGregor, who has a huge background in engineering and the international oil-and-gas sector. He used to own the fourth-largest gas plant in Canada, at Taylor, BC, and owned the world\u2019s largest deepwater drilling rig, on Canada\u2019s east coast. Then he built the Sturgeon refinery<\/a>, 45 km northeast of Edmonton, the only bitumen refinery designed from the outset with carbon capture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He says<\/a> of BC\u2019s EV plan: \u201cHow could somebody sitting in Victoria solve a problem that is that technically complicated and believe they have the right answer? That\u2019s a religion. That isn\u2019t a science.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And he also slaps Ottawa\u2019s programme to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by requiring them to be buried underground: \u201cMind-bogglingly stupid,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSometime next year, my stuff will put 50 million tons of CO2 in the ground. … It\u2019s like a really expensive landfill and I have to pay to put it in the landfill. I can do that, but I have to pay. There\u2019s another use for this CO2. I can use it to get more oil out of the ground.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd somebody decided, well, we don\u2019t want any more oil in the world, so we\u2019re not going to allow that to happen because that\u2019ll mean there\u2019s more oil. … And so, and we\u2019re doing this thing where we\u2019re drilling these exploration wells into the geological basement. … It\u2019s just mind bogglingly stupid.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, all in all, he sees a brighter future for Canada: \u201cWe work to the highest standards. We\u2019re productive. We\u2019ve got the best rock in the world. So we got the best gas reserves. We got the best oil reserves. … How do you make energy out of that?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe know how to do that really well here, and we keep seeming to get it wrong. That\u2019s a bit annoying. But I think we eventually get to the right place and perhaps we\u2019re in one of those times now. So I\u2019m hopeful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n