Moemoney42 wrote: On Tuesday, when federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault announced that 20% of new vehicles sold in Canada must – must – be EVs within just the next two years (and 100% by 2035), he insisted EVs “will help Canadians with the cost of living. Once you drive a car off the lot, the saving on fuelling and maintenance costs are enormous.” In an effort to convince Canadian consumers of the wisdom of buying EVs — and Canadian taxpayers of the efficacy of subsidizing EVs — Guilbeault left a lot of facts out of his assertion; facts even his own department can’t ignore.
First, EVs are, of course, more expensive to buy than conventional, internal combustion engine (ICE) cars – upwards of 40% more expensive without heavy federal and provincial subsidies and as much as 20% more with subsidies.
Electrics are not helping Canadians with the cost of living through their purchase prices, which is probably why Guilbeault only boasted about EVs being so much cheaper “once you drive a car off the lot …”
On the lot, EVs remain a luxury good, which is why the average EV buyer makes over $100,000 a year and the average family income in Canada is just over $70,000.
Subsidies to purchase EVs amount to a tax on ordinary Canadians so higher-income Canadians can buy electric toys to appease their eco-consciences.
Guilbeault also insisted subsidies will become less necessary as EVs and conventional vehicles reach “price parity.” According to the minister, EVs and ICE vehicles will soon cost roughly the same to buy.
This picture taken on October 18, 2023 shows an electric vehicle being charged at Antuoshan charging station in Shenzhen, China's southern Guangdong province.© Provided by Toronto Sun
While reading this column, I ask you to keep one thought in the back of your minds: The federal Liberals think they should be in charge of content on the Internet because only they can protect Canadian democracy from “disinformation.”
On Tuesday, when federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault announced that 20% of new vehicles sold in Canada must – must – be EVs within just the next two years (and 100% by 2035), he insisted EVs “will help Canadians with the cost of living. Once you drive a car off the lot, the saving on fuelling and maintenance costs are enormous.”
In an effort to convince Canadian consumers of the wisdom of buying EVs — and Canadian taxpayers of the efficacy of subsidizing EVs — Guilbeault left a lot of facts out of his assertion; facts even his own department can’t ignore.
First, EVs are, of course, more expensive to buy than conventional, internal combustion engine (ICE) cars – upwards of 40% more expensive without heavy federal and provincial subsidies and as much as 20% more with subsidies.
Electrics are not helping Canadians with the cost of living through their purchase prices, which is probably why Guilbeault only boasted about EVs being so much cheaper “once you drive a car off the lot …”
On the lot, EVs remain a luxury good, which is why the average EV buyer makes over $100,000 a year and the average family income in Canada is just over $70,000.
Subsidies to purchase EVs amount to a tax on ordinary Canadians so higher-income Canadians can buy electric toys to appease their eco-consciences.
Guilbeault also insisted subsidies will become less necessary as EVs and conventional vehicles reach “price parity.” According to the minister, EVs and ICE vehicles will soon cost roughly the same to buy.
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But a “regulatory impact analysis” prepared for internal use at Environment Canada, and uncovered by the online news service Blacklock’s Reporter , found that among models (mostly sedans) where price parity is possible, it will not be reached for nearly a decade. And for other vehicle types (notably pickups and plug-in hybrids), parity will likely never occur.
Indeed, Environment Canada’s internal calculations estimate the higher cost of EVs and the expense of installing home charging stations will cost Canadian consumers $54 billion more in the next 25 years. Meanwhile, net energy savings will be just $37 billion. Meaning that even under the highly biased calculations of Guilbeault’s own department, the net cost of switching everyone over to EVs will ding Canadian consumers $17 billion.
Not sure how exactly that helps with Canadians’ cost of living.
And that staggering sum doesn’t take into account the higher cost of electricity if Ottawa pushes ahead with another Guilbeault goal — making the nation’s power grid net zero by 2035.
If electricity costs double, as they easily could, Guilbeault’s EV scheme could cost Canadian car buyers $30 billion or more, just using Environment Canada’s own numbers.
Electrics also aren’t cheaper to maintain. If they are involved in accidents, they can cost many times more to repair than conventional vehicles. Their insurance premiums are higher. Because they’re heavier, they chew through tires faster (to say nothing of road repair costs to municipalities and provinces). If their batteries start to lose capacity, new ones can cost tens of thousands of dollars.
Another internal federal document uncovered last year put the cost of conversion to EVs at $99 billion by 2050, which is probably more accurate than $54 billion.
Either way, Guilbeault’s claim about the affordability of EVs amounts to “disinformation” — the very kind of disinformation the Liberals think they are uniquely qualified to guard us against.