Since the Ford government in Ontario in July ended rebates of up to $14,000 and the final recipients were registered Sept. 10, sales of the Nissan Leaf have all but collapsed. Photo: Nissan
There is little question that rebates are essential to selling EVs, but no one really knew just how much until now.
Sales of electrified vehicles have plummeted in Ontario since the Doug Ford government removed purchase incentives, and Quebec dealers are reaping the benefits as inventory is reallocated, slashing their wait times for delivery.
Since the Ford government in July ended rebates of up to $14,000 and the final recipients were registered Sept. 10, sales of the Nissan Leaf have all but collapsed. In August, 695 units were sold. In November, just 10, according to figures supplied by Nissan Canada. In Quebec in November alone, 283 units were sold.
General Motors of Canada declined to provide data, but spokeswoman Ester Bucci said the brand has “seen a decline of EV sales” since the rebate’s cancellation, noting that sales in Quebec and British Columbia, where incentives remain in place, are holding strong with Chevrolet Bolt sales posting an overall nationwide increase of 30 per cent year over year. The automaker didn’t provide a brand or model breakdown for December sales.
Chris Budd, owner of Budds’ Group of Companies, which operates nine dealerships in Oakville and Hamilton, Ont., told Automotive News Canada he has seen a decline in interest in EVs at his storefronts.
“We do find [EVs have] pulled back in consideration and sales,” he said. “Our GM facility sold and delivered 91 electric cars last year when the credit was in place. We expect less than 20 with no credit in place.
“It was a growing business and we would have forecast an increase had the credit stayed in place. Supply was always a problem as availability was very lean from GM.”
BUYERS WAIT AND SEE?
Budd said he wasn’t sure whether the decline was due to an untenable price for EVs without the subsidy, or whether consumers were waiting to see whether Ottawa would offer an alternative rebate program.
“There is no doubt that the consumer for electric was somewhat different … more conscious of the environment, new technology, being ground breakers, etc., so we believe some of the backdraft that is present now after the cancellation of credits will pass,” he said. “I believe the credit was too high in Ontario, and if there were a federal program of a more tenable cost/credit was available, we would have a logical uptick.”
Meanwhile, dealers in Quebec are celebrating as automakers redistribute inventory to their stores, dramatically reducing wait times.
“We are receiving an incremental amount of hybrid vehicles in Quebec,” said Denis Leclerc, president of the Albi group of dealerships. “As an example, in our Hyundai dealerships, ordering a hybrid vehicle used to take three to four months. Now, we talk about three to four weeks.
“Another example is Chevrolet. Last year, it took six months to receive a Bolt, and now it takes eight to 10 weeks. We also have Volt in our inventory, and last year this wasn’t the case.”
HT/Marcus
I’m surprised they sold any. If you were in the market for one, and waited until a $14k rebate ended, shame on you. All the demand was pushed forward. I know the demand won’t return to prior levels, but this quarter would be especially slow.
Hong Kong had a similar experience of close to zero sales over a year ago….
Today EVs are niche vehicles and nothing more. The fact that buyers have to be bribed is telling. Saying “battery pricing is coming down” means nothing until the cars are affordable by the masses if you expect more than the few percent of adoption we have today after a decade since introduction. The only reason more manufacturers are building them is “me too” and they’re easy to cobble together and inexpensive except for the battery. Norway has the ideal environment (except for the cold)….. all trips are short, abundant hydro power, and relatively small areas to upgrade to a car charging grid. For their niche EVs are ideal transportation and superior to ICE vehicles. The question is how big is that niche? I say small and it will remain that way until we run out of oil.
We bought a Ford C-Max hybrid just over two years ago, pretty happy with it. Mostly highway driving near Toronto, in town driving IN Toronto, and about once a month outside of Toronto, particularly north. When you’re sitting in traffic, love to see that EV light come on, and with cruise control, you can easily hit 120 k/ph with it on (however briefly).
Lets just say on those longer trips, I’m very, very glad for the internal combustion engine on board that charges the battery. Last Christmas our drive was through a blizzard for 4 hours. When you’re driving with white knuckles through a white-out anyway, you don’t want to see that charge bar keep going down.
We have a neighbour (incredibly lefty, but decent sort anyway, although she has no idea of any of my rather sacrilegious thoughts concerning her core beliefs…) who bought a Leaf. She has a place near our place two hours north of Toronto…but the closes charging station to it is about 45 minutes drive away.
Needless to say, I bet she’s glad her place isn’t winterized. Oh, and I can’t wait for the inevitable dust-up about the charge chord across the sidewalk…
Sales fell sharply after incentives dropped in 2 or 3 other locations besides Hong Kong. One was Dubai, I think. Another was the U.S. state of Georgia.
I find the original article has too few specific numbers on sales and trends to understand what is actually happening. Subsidies ended in just Quebec? Then I’d like to see comparable sales for all affected EVs in Quebec for the same month(s) in prior years.
We also need to see all EV sales reported in standard units of Middletons. The Middleton unit normalizes vehicle sales to the percentage of Ford F-150 sales for the same period :-).
It should be no surprise that price affects purchase decisions. The key question is whether unsubsidized sales will sustain continued development and manufacture of new EVs. From the information in the original article I have no clue.
Canada is a more difficult market for EVs than the US — longer and colder winters hit one of the weaknesses of current battery technology.
“…I find the original article has too few specific numbers on sales and trends to understand what is actually happening. Subsidies ended in just Quebec? Then I’d like to see comparable sales for all affected EVs in Quebec for the same month(s) in prior years…”
Good point. The August demand was probably artificially inflated as buyers rushed to get under the wire for the $14k rebate.
Climate models show falling leaf sales directly correlated to fall in Ontario.
Climate experts discount easy money subsidies as insignificant compared to spelling.
Another wonder with EVs…
BMW states a charge rate of 3-4 miles per hour for their i3 (current range is around 153 miles without a gas-powered range extender…which can extend the range to 200 miles but reduces the EV range because of added weight), which means it could be 50+ hours to charge from empty!
A dedicated 240V option would allow a full charge overnight, but that isn’t a viable option for some people (and has an associated expense for those that do).
Well I know I knew.
When it comes to counting money in your bank account, even politicians suddenly become surprisingly numerate.
The problem with batteries is the chemistry limited energy density is relatively low. Tesla is already close to the theoretical max. Yet 50litre of gas is the equivalent to a 2T barrtery. Ugh! High energy density far more useful. How about a 1gram fission pill?
Battery maintenance on EVs is equivalent to all the maintenance of ICE vehicles all rolled into one.
Overcharging is bad. Deep discharging is very bad. Optimum life, from what I have read, seems to be maintaining a charge of about 50%. So if you try to get max miles out of a charge, you will pay the price for early battery failure.
I am perhaps one of the few here who is a perfect matched (up to a significant point) for an EV. I live in a more temperate climate (just north of Atlanta), in the ‘burbs with a garage, and retired, driving only 5000 miles a year, or so. I might drive as much as a hundred miles in a day, but that’s rare.
My concern? I travel. I could be gone for up to a month. Ever hear of ‘vampire losses’ wrt EVs?
Unless I left it plugged in (forget about leaving it parked at the airport), I would come home to a deeply discharged battery. But leave a Li-ion battery plugged in and unattended for a month? I don’t think so!
When you start looking at all the people who would be better served by an ICE vehicle, there really isn’t much of a market for EVs.
My friend’s wife has had an EV for about a year and a half in very similar circumstances, uses it for commuting to work. Charges in their garage at night, absolutely loves it. They have been away for up to two weeks without problems. One thought would be if one goes away wouldn’t it be possible to have the charger automatically switched on periodically?
If one is away, presumably they went away in their car, so why would they need the charger to automatically switch on periodically when the car isn’t there to be charged? what am I missing?
“if one is away, presumably they went away in their car,”
?
You’ve never flown before?
Some people leave their cars at the airport and pick them up when they get back. But regardless, if you aren’t using it for a long stretch of time, why would you want to waste electricity periodically charging it only to have it sit there discharging between recharges. Better to just recharge it when you get back.
But regardless, if you aren’t using it for a long stretch of time, why would you want to waste electricity periodically charging it only to have it sit there discharging between recharges. Better to just recharge it when you get back.
So what problem did you have when you raised the issue?
I would come home to a deeply discharged battery.
If there is an issue with lifetime arising from running the battery flat then an occasional partial charge would be good.
What do you do when you leave your car behind for a month, surely you don’t leave it parked at the airport? Normal recommendations are to leave it in a garage, change the oil, top off the fuel tank, add a fuel stabilizer, either get some one to drive the car for a few minutes every two weeks or disconnect the -ve battery cable or trickle charge the battery, don’t engage the parking brake.
Phil, pay attention to whom you are talking to. I never raised the issue “I would come home to a deeply discharged battery.” That was jtom.
If deeply discharged batteries are an issue (since I don’t have an EV, they’re not for me), I’d leave the car with friends or family to look after rather than waste electricity (and increasing my electric bill) on wasted charges. They can use the car for local trips (grocery shopping, for example) while I’m away in exchange for making sure the batter isn’t dead when I come home.
What do you do when you leave your car behind for a month,
*I* don’t. Anytime I’ve been gone that long has been a road trip (IE I took my car with me) something that is considerably more inconvenient with a limited range EV.
Nice to know that Quebec – who receives billions in equalization funds from other provinces – are able to subsidize EV’s. Add that to the list of things that the Quebec government provides to their citizens at the expence of others
Plus they massively subsidize the price of electricity which ensures they are a have not Province. And renewable resources like large hydro electricity dams are not supposed to count anyway in the Equalization Formula while Alberta with its vast oil and gas reserves are made to pay even when they have no way to get their oil to market. And then Quebec buys foreign oil from Saudi’s Arabia and blocks a pipeline from Western Canada to the Atlantic. Enough with equalization with spoiled Quebec.
It’s a wonder the rest of Canada doesn’t demand a referendum to kick the lot out of Canada. They want their own country anyway, so let’s not stop them especially when they have been extorting other provinces for decades through this wealth appropriation called Equalization.
“There is no doubt that the consumer for electric was somewhat different … more conscious of the environment, new technology, being ground breakers, etc …..
That is a very interesting way to describe “gullible virtue signalling fools”.
Just wondering what would happen if all these subsidies to wind and solar generating systems, and ethanol factories here in the US, were removed. And then remove the requirements that utilities and gasoline producers must use energy from these “alternative” sources as 10% of their feedstock. Not a chance, but a fella can dream, can’t he?
Without TAXPAYER funded subsides, the “alternative/green” energy scam would all but disappear.
Regarding ethanol, it was necessary to make up for the removal of tetraethyl lead from gasoline which would otherwise reduce the octane rating. The most economical solution was to add oxygenates to the fuel, Bob Dole saw the opportunity to ‘appeal to his base’ and insisted that the source be corn and also got tariffs imposed to prevent the import of cheap foreign ethanol. The most economic oxygenate was MBTE however after a while it became apparent that it was accumulating in soil and so ethanol was used. Good luck if oxygenates are removed from gasoline, either the performance would drop significantly or the price of higher octane gas would skyrocket, beware what you wish for.