Online campaign aims to bring more electric cars to Canada

Campaign wants Canadians to support an aggressive zero-emissions vehicle policy

A new campaign based on the assumption that Canadians have bought fewer electric vehicles because they have fewer models to choose from, especially compared to Americans.

That needs to change, argue five leading Canadian organizations that are together driving the point home via a new social media campaign.

Plug-in Ford Focus.

EVchoice.ca, launched during “Drive Electric Week,” invites Canadians to contact federal and provincial leaders and urge them to adopt policies that other jurisdictions have successfully used to boost electric-vehicle availability.

The campaign’s centerpiece is Where Are Canada’s Missing Electric Cars?, a short animated video clip that compares Canada’s EV offerings with those available to Californians.

The Golden State requires car companies to ensure that a minimum percentage of all vehicles they sell are electric. Quebec policy makers gave the green light to a similar mandate earlier this year.

The simple rule has helped put a lot of electric cars on the road, the video explains, while making the auto industry a big part of the solution.

Though many experts believe California’s approach would work well in Canada—the two jurisdictions have a similar population size, and Quebec has already adopted its own mandate—auto-industry lobbyists are putting the brakes on the idea here. “Canadians deserve greater EV choice, and our governments should make sure the car industry gives it to us,” the video argues.

The federal government is presently developing a national Zero-Emissions Vehicle Strategy; it will be released sometime in the coming year. Canada’s auto industry is actively opposing the inclusion of an EV sales mandate in the strategy.

EVchoice.ca is a collaboration of The Toronto Atmospheric Fund, Clean Energy Canada, Environmental Defence Canada, Équiterre, and the SFU Sustainable Transportation Action Research Team.

Drive Electric Week is a North America-wide celebration, held September 9-17, 2017, intended to heighten awareness of plug-in vehicles and their benefits.