Canada to Announce All New Cars Must Be Zero Emissions by 2035

The Canadian province of Ottawa is planning to announce new automobile regulations — the Electric Vehicle Availability Standard — this week, while the Canadian government is set to unveil a requirement that all new cars must be zero emissions by 2035, according to a senior government source, as Reuters reported.

The Electric Vehicle Availability Standard would help to shorten electric vehicle (EV) wait times, as well as make sure the Canadian market has available supply, the source told Reuters.

Québec and British Columbia have already implemented the measures.

Zero-emissions vehicles include plug-in, battery electric and hydrogen models. According to the regulations, these will be required to make up 20 percent of all new vehicle sales in 2026, 60 percent in 2030 and 100 percent by 2035, the anonymous source said.

“This is helping to solve one of the greatest barriers to EVs uptake: that wait times are too long,” the source said, as reported by the Toronto Star. “We are making sure that supply is going toward Canadian markets, because one of the issues with EVs is that we’re competing against other markets where the actual EVs are being shipped to.”

EV sales worldwide account for approximately 13 percent of all vehicle sales, Reuters reported. According to the International Energy Agency, EV sales will probably comprise 40 to 45 percent of the market by 2030.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted recently to stop the Biden administration from implementing vehicle emissions standards that would lead to 67 percent of all new vehicles in the country being EVs by 2032.

Under the new Canadian regulations, automakers but not dealerships will earn credits for how many EVs they sell, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The number of credits will differ depending on how close cars are to the zero-emissions standard.

Credits will also be available for automakers that assist with the production of EV charging infrastructure. Early credits will be awarded to those who manufacture EVs ahead of when the regulations are set to start in 2026. Companies will be able to buy or sell credits if they come up short or go over their goals.

According to the record of registrations from Statistics Canada, one out of eight new vehicles sold in the country is an EV or plug-in hybrid, reported the Toronto Star. Sales are much higher in provinces that have already put regulations in place requiring a set proportion of EVs to be sold by dealers. In Québec, a fifth of new cars are electric, and in British Columbia, almost a quarter of new car sales are EVs.

“By doing this nationally, we will make sure supply is available and that consumers in all provinces are going to get quicker access to the vehicles,” the official said, as the Toronto Star reported.