Earlier this month, Volkswagen-owned PowerCo SE began hiring for “hundreds of job openings” at its multibillion-dollar electric vehicle battery manufacturing plant in St. Thomas, Ontario, which remains on track to start production in 2027.
Two major Asian auto parts suppliers also announced they're teaming up to build a second EV parts facility in Windsor, further expanding the region's EV supply chain. And just a few days ago, Ford unveiled a game-changing $5-billion plan to revamp its iconic assembly process to make affordable EVs. It’s a strong signal, especially considering the ink on Trump’s recent bill ending EV purchase and production tax credits has hardly dried.
When asked about their decisions, all expressed that these were long-term investments that needed to be evaluated with a long-term lens. It’s a common mantra we hear from the sector: “Carmakers think in decades, not months,” the head of Hyundai Canada, Steve Flamand, wrote in The Globe and Mail.
The B.C. government should channel this same mantra, especially as it faces rising pressure from certain auto groups to backtrack on the province’s own EV ambitions. These groups are targeting the province’s EV sales regulation specifically, which requires carmakers to supply more EVs to British Columbians.
Indeed, a longer-term view reveals that this policy has already done a lot for British Columbians. And with a few tweaks to help weather a temporary, Trump-induced storm, it can and will continue to deliver significant benefits for decades to come.
Since the policy was put in place in 2019, zero-emission vehicle sales in the province have grown significantly, from 4.1 per cent of new car sales in 2018 to 22.4 per cent in 2024, according to B.C. government’s ZEV update. There are now almost 200,000 electric cars on B.C. roads.
A myriad of options are now available to B.C. drivers, and the province regularly gets access to the newest models before the rest of Canada, from the Fiat 500e to the Jeep Wagoneer S. Even when the electric Dodge Charger started rolling off Windsor assembly lines, the vehicle was only available for purchase in B.C. and Quebec (the two provinces with EV mandates in place), not to the Ontarians who actually built them.
B.C.'s historically high EV adoption rate has also resulted in a robust market for used vehicles. You can now buy EVs with over 400 kilometres of range for around $20,000, opening up electric cars and their well-established fuel cost savings to a whole new category of buyers.
If the goals of the policy are to improve EV supply, consumer choice and affordability, the policy has worked even better than intended. That’s one reason to keep it in place. Another is that B.C. drivers really want these vehicles.
Even in the face of rampant EV-related misinformation, support for EVs in B.C. remains high. Looking at Metro Vancouver specifically, nearly 70 per cent are inclined to purchase an EV as their next car, including 82 per cent of residents aged 18-29, 63 per cent of households earning less than $50,000 per year, and 66 per cent of renters, according to a 2025 Abacus Data survey commissioned by Clean Energy Canada to be released next month.
Interest is not the barrier. But upfront cost remains a top concern, especially after the province paused its popular rebate earlier this year. While ideally the B.C. government would bring back the incentive program to pair with its EV mandate, the EV mandate can also do a lot of heavy lifting on its own to drive down prices and motivate carmakers to bring more affordable models into the B.C. market. Updating the policy to allow carmakers to receive extra credits for discounted or competitively priced EVs is one example of a win-win amendment that prioritizes affordability while allowing carmakers more options for how they meet their upcoming EV credit requirements.
While trade and tariff wars might necessitate revisiting B.C.’s ambitious 2030 target of 90 per cent EV sales and adding some flexibility for the near-term, the province should not significantly weaken the policy or throw it out altogether. Doing so would be a short-term reaction to auto group lobbying efforts rather than a thoughtful decision to align with the longer-term (and more trustworthy) signal actual auto company investment decisions are sending, not to mention the rest of the world—more than one in four cars sold globally this year are set to be electric.
The cost-saving, convenience, consumer choice, climate and health benefits of the EV mandate will be felt far longer by British Columbians than the whims of a temperamental leader down south.
Carmakers themselves are playing the long game. The B.C. government should too.
Joanna Kyriazis is the director of policy and strategy and Evan Pivnick is the clean energy program manager at Clean Energy Canada, a think tank at Simon Fraser University.
