Quebecers account for nearly half the sales of electric vehicles in Canada: why?

FILE - In this Nov. 29, 2019 file photo, an electric car is charged at the Essen Motor Show fair for tuning and motorsports in Essen, Germany. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File)

MONTREAL — Between 70 and 75 per cent of motor vehicles sold in Canada will have to be zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) by 2030 if the federal government is to meet its greenhouse gas emission targets, according to a report by the CD Howe Institute earlier this month.

Currently, only 3.5 per cent of vehicle sales in Canada meet this criteria.

Nevertheless, a number of provinces are making efforts to ramp up electric vehicle sales — and it seems Quebec is leading the charge.

A whopping 46 per cent of registered electric cars in Canada are in Quebec, according to the Association des véhicules électriques du Québec (AVÉQ).

The highest per-capita rate of electric vehicle registrations is in British Columbia at 8.4 per cent; Quebec follows closely behind at 6.8 per cent.

“People in Quebec pay a lot more attention to the environmental impacts of their choices and always voice their opinion positively towards making those changes to help out,” said Simon-Pierre Rioux, president of AVÉQ.

This alone doesn’t always mean Quebecers will make the most environmentally-friendly choice, he notes.

“One of the reasons why we’re starting to see this change is because people are seeing that there is a financial advantage [to] driving an electric car,” he explained.

MONEY TALKS: REBATES

To incentivize more Canadians to buy greener cars, the federal government is offering rebates on the purchase of zero-emission and hybrid vehicles:

Longer-range PHEVs have a higher battery capacity, meaning they can be powered by more electricity than shorter-range PHEVs.

The federal government defines longer-range hybrids as having a battery capacity of at least 15 kW/h — any capacity lower than that is considered shorter-range.

Quebec has also established provincial incentives, which can be combined with federal rebates for maximum savings:

“It’s really advantageous,” insists Rioux.

Other provinces and territories offer financial incentives as well, but none are as high as Quebec, he adds.