Ontario not on track to hit 5% target of all passenger vehicles being electric by 2020
Around the world, the shift to more environmentally friendly technologies is making headway. This summer the UK, as well as France vowed to outlaw the production of new gas and diesel vehicles by 2040, and both Volvo and BMW have made various electric vehicle pledges. Falling into line, the Ontario Government set a goal of seeing 5% of all passenger vehicles on the road being electric by 2020. However, this is a goal that many analysts are saying is unrealistic to say the least.
"The chances of meeting it aren't low, they're zero," said auto industry analyst Dennis DesRosiers. "In the auto sector all roads lead to electric, it just happens to be that the road to serious acceptance of them is probably at least 2030 and more likely 2040, 2050."
Tony Faria, an auto industry analyst at the University of Windsor, agrees that Ontario won't meet its goal by 2020.
"We will almost assuredly get to five per cent electric vehicles purchased or on the road at some point in time, it's just not going to be in the next couple of years," he said. "We're really wedded to our gasoline-driven vehicles because of the flexibility they give us distance wise, amazing availability of where you can fill up and so on."
While numbers from this year are not yet available, the end of 2016 showed that less than 1% of vehicles on the road were electric. The numbers are low even with the over $75 million being spent on government subsidiaries including rebates to owners of electric vehicles, charging stations, and various incentive programs.
Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca is still remaining optimistic despite the low numbers thus far. He notes that the timeline was “ambitious” and that challenges have arose, but still believes the 2020 timeline is still within reach.
"We see what the numbers are currently, but again when you look at not only the demand we've seen over the last few months, but the forecasted demand for the next three or four years we do see and certainly do predict fairly sharp increases in people's appetite for (electric) vehicles," he said.
Del Duca said that it takes consumers time to adjust to new products that include a bit of a culture change.
"People get very comfortable in their patterns, both as commuters and when they're making their product selections when they're looking at cars," he said. "I think there was always going to be the need for some time for a cultural shift."