Auto experts on EV rebates: A dealer, a journalist & an analyst weigh in

The feds are thinking about relaunching an EV rebate. What will that mean for Windsor? CTV Windsor’s Michelle Maluske has more.

Canada’s Environment Minister has signalled the federal government will restart the electric vehicle rebate program.

Speaking to The Canadian Press while leaving the House of Commons in Ottawa Tuesday, Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin said a renewed consumer rebate is something being worked on.

“Will it be named, iZEV? That I can’t tell you. But there will be a consumer rebate,” Dabrusin said.

The Incentives for Zero-Emission Vehicles program offered rebates of up to $5,000 for new electric vehicle purchases.

According to the government, 500,000 new EV’s were sold in Canada between May 2019 and January 2025. During that time, the federal government spent $3 billion on iZEV.

The dealer

James Knapp is the General Manager of Ken Knapp Ford in Essex, Ont.

“I think it is a good thing,” Knapp said Wednesday.

He believes bringing a rebate back will help consumers who are “on the fence” about switching from gas to electricity.

“Something like this might just be that extra little bit of incentive to make the decision easier, to make it the value story,” Knapp said.

If the government reboots the program, Knapp is hopeful they continue to allow the rebate on plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV). He recommends they do a better job of educating consumers.

“I think some consumers didn’t even know,” Knapp said.

“So maybe additional information so they don’t have to take the full plunge (to EV) if they’re not ready.

The journalist

Alisa Priddle works for Motor Trend Magazine, based out of Windsor-Detroit.

Priddle said EVs may have sold during the rebate program, but the numbers don’t appear to be holding now that its paused.

“The first quarter of this year, compared to last year, EV sales in Canada have been cut in half,” Priddle explained.

“I think they’ve gone from about 16 per cent down to about 8 per cent.”

Bringing rebates back is a good way to restore consumer interest in EV’s, she said.

Even if that doesn’t happen, Priddle said automakers have no choice but to invest in the EV evolution.

“The world is going EV,” she said.

“North America really stands to fall behind (if they don’t invest). China and Europe sell way more EVs than we do. And automakers are global. So, they have to invest in these vehicles for the rest of the world.”

The auto analyst

Sam Fiorani is with Auto Forecast Solutions based in Chester Springs, Pennsylvania.

Incentives or rebates, he said, are an important component of this evolution to electricity.

“If the consumer buys a vehicle at $40,000, but the manufacturers need $50,000 to build the vehicle, then that $7,000 to $7,500 incentive adds a little bit more space there for them to get closer to profitability,” Fiorani said.

Rebates, he said, are just as appealing to manufacturers as consumers.

“We need to get buyers in there and in order to get it buyers in there, you have to give them a price they can afford, but you also have to make them profitable enough for the manufacturers,” Fiorani said Wednesday.

When asked about declining EV sales or a perceived lack of interest, Fiorani reminds the naysayers, it’s early days in this evolution.

“We’ve been building internal combustion engine vehicles for 150 years, and we’ve been building modern electric vehicles for only the past 20, so there’s a lot of investment that needs to be done,” he said.

- With files from the Canadian Press.