2022 Battery Electric Vehicles Canada

Disclosure: Millennium River is an independent, professional website that uses hyperlinks. Some of these hyperlinks are affiliate links. When you click and purchase a product(s) through these links, I may earn a commission on qualifying sales. This is done at no extra expense to you. Consider also supporting this website via PayPal. Unless it is clearly stated, the content is not sponsored.

2022

The 2022 year did not bring a lot of new models to Canadian shores. It did, however, see a lot of unveilings from various brands. It also marked the opening of General Motors Canada’s first full-scale electric vehicle manufacturing plant, a major amendment to the United States electric vehicle tax credit bill, and several other events to be covered within this write-up.

Buy American Becomes Buy North American

Back in 2021, Canada sounded the alarm when Canadians learned that the United States electric vehicle tax credit bill would only pertain to vehicles built within the United States Of America. Canadian leaders and workers were fearful that it would result in American brands closing factories in Canada to move to the United States, causing thousands to lose their jobs. In 2022, United States Democrats Senator Chuck Schumer and Senator Joe Manchin have agreed to propose to get rid of the tax-credit plan that favoured American-made electric vehicles. Instead, the Senate majority leader and the West Virginia moderate are proposing an amendment to Joe Biden’s climate and health bill that would expand the credits to include all of North America.

While this may have breathed a sigh of relief for stakeholders, politicians, leaders, and manufacturers, a major problem still remains: lack of Canadian-born and built electric vehicle companies in Canada. As AK Motors CEO Kaminski warned Trudeau in a statement last year, Canada cannot continue to be 100% reliant on building vehicles for foreign companies, as they can change things as they best see fit. The 2024 U.S. elections for example, could end up changing the course of trade, should the future President choose not to care about Canada and other countries very much.

Canada’s First Full-scale Electric Vehicle Manufacturing Plant

On December 05, 2022, the Prime Minister Of Canada, Justin Trudeau, announced the opening of the GM CAMI plant in Ingersoll, Ontario. The first full-scale commercial electric vehicle plant in the country. The CAMI assembly plant was retooled to make the BrightDrop Zevo 600. The BrightDrop Zevo 600 is an electric light commercial vehicle that is powered by Ultium batteries and Ultium drive motors and purpose-built for the delivery of goods and services. The estimated range is said to be 400 kilometres on a full charge. Interestingly, it was only 8 months ago that the government announced investments to retool the CAMI EV assembly plant in Ingersoll.

20% Of New Vehicles Sold In Canada By 2026 Must Be Zero Emission Vehicles

On December 21, 2022, Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, announced that the Government of Canada has published proposed regulations that set ZEV sales targets for manufacturers and importers of new passenger cars, sport utility vehicles, and pickup trucks. The regulations will require that at least 20% of new vehicles sold in Canada will be zero emission by 2026, at least 60% by 2030, and 100% by 2035. These targets will help increase supply so that more Canadians who want a ZEV can buy one. In addition to making sure there are more ZEVs to buy, the Government also announced the following investments to make buying and charging an electric vehicle easier for Canadians:

• Invested in 50,000 more electric vehicle charging stations across the country, for almost 85,000 federally-funded chargers across Canada by 2027. This is in addition to charging stations supported by provincial governments and the private sector.
• Renewed the program that provides Canadians up to $5,000, and businesses up to $10,000, toward the cost of buying or leasing a ZEV. Over 180,000 individuals and businesses have taken advantage of this program to date.
• Making historic investments in electric vehicle manufacturing in Canada, which will mean made-in-Canada ZEVs by Canadian auto workers and for Canadian drivers to buy.

Danielle Smith Wants To “Protect” Alberta From Electric Vehicles

On December 22, 2022, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith made 3 Tweets in regards to Canada’s battery electric vehicle plans, particularly the 2026 mandate:

1. The Liberal-NDP plan to outlaw non-electric vehicles will drive up vehicle costs and take away your freedom to choose what vehicle makes sense for you and your family.

2. It will also cost billions of your taxes to upgrade the grid in a very short period of time, increasing your electricity costs and potentially impacting grid stability.

3. Electric, diesel, and gas powered vehicles are all choices Albertans should have depending on their personal needs, budgets, and circumstances. As Premier, I will make sure you have a choice when it comes to the vehicle you drive- the NDP and Liberals can butt out. 

Comments such as these coming from a Premier are troubling. Not only are these comments false, but ironically would suffocate Alberta and cause it to fall behind in a global push forwards. An opposing critic had also called her out for trying to make something that is not a real problem, look like a problem, while ignoring real problems happening right now with the faltering healthcare system, wages not matching inflation, homelessness, and several others.

Debunking These Harmful Myths 1-by-1

1. Outlawing combustion engine vehicles will not drive up vehicle costs. If anything, as more and more electric cars are being produced from major giants like General Motors, Ford, Honda, and others, especially under their non-luxury brands, the costs of electric vehicles are actually going down. Consumers no longer have to buy a Tesla if they need something with a range of 400 kilometres or greater. Pickup trucks, sedans, and crossovers — all can be had in all-electric form, making the remark about being unable to choose a vehicles that makes sense for your family false. 

2. “Billions” is a greatly exaggerated figure. Would have been true if Alberta were starting from scratch with the deployment of stations. However, this is absolutely not the case. As of January 2022, Alberta has 255 charging stations throughout the province. On top of this, the government has even given them millions to setup stations for electric vehicles. Making it look as though Albertans were going to bare the brunt of this burden alone is straight up false. The grid will not become damaged either. Alberta has more than enough time and resources to improve the grid. If the province were to take Smith’s to heart, then the province will fall into an actual crisis on top of already existing problems.

3. Internal combustion vehicles, whether people want to accept it or not, are mechanically inferior to all-electric vehicles. This alone could be an entire article, but in short, the absence of the engine and all its complex parts and piping, means far fewer maintenance, reliability, and long-term savings. And no hazardous tailpipe emissions. As already mentioned, there are already numerous sizes, classes, and price points of all-electric vehicles for consumers to choose. The remark about how she wants the Liberal and New Democratic Party to butt out, only proves the opposing critics right about her making unnecessary noise about something that is not a problem, while not focusing on actual problems happening.

Alberta Can Do It

Alberta has the fourth largest fleet of electric vehicles (EVs) in Canada behind Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia. The availability of reliable charging infrastructure is a key factor in electric vehicle adoption. Alberta is a land very rich in resources. It even has the potential to become an electric vehicle powerhouse, thanks to its richness. However, if people are fed with fake propaganda, believe it in it, and act upon it, this will gravely hurt Alberta’s innovation and growth to match forward-moving provinces, and the rest of the world.

Project Arrow

On October 19, 2022, APMA revealed a peek of the Project Arrow’s skeleton to attendees of its 70th annual conference in Windsor, Ontario. APMA plans a global reveal at the 2023 CES annual trade show in Las Vegas. The burning question during the conference has been answered: will the Arrow see full-scale production or not? Flavio Volpe says the possibility of an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) or investor with deep pockets to sweep in and commit to mass produce the Arrow is not 0, but at this moment nothing is in the works. Volpe insists Arrow’s purpose is to act as a demonstration model of Canadian potential and talent, rather than a tool to entice manufacturers to start scaling — which, he believes, could cost a billion dollars.

While developing and making cars is no cheap task, Canada has plenty of affluent OEMs and investors that can easily fund mass-scale production. It is only a matter of will. If the Project was attractive to the point that APMA had to choose 58 Canadian industry partners out of 534 applicants, then there is certainly an interested investor and OEM watching and willing to produce it. Who will it be? 2023 will hopefully reveal. If the vehicle is a success at the 2023 Consumer Electronics Show, it will make it all the more likely for the Arrow to become a production car.

AK Motor

May 30, 2022, The Maple Majestic brand of AK Motors unveiled a video of a variant of their namesake car, then an official media statement the following day. This concept variant is called the Maple Majestic Kombi-Kross. The objective is to offer supreme winter handling capabilities and off-road attributes while providing additional storage space for longer trips. The startup’s statement also mentions that several more body configurations based on the existing concepts will be presented in the coming months as well as the technologies behind these vehicles. Between then and now, December 2022, no other concepts have been revealed. Could this mean a pickup truck concept in 2023? Time will tell. Given that there is not even a functional prototype of the original model, AK Motor may be better off creating a working prototype first, before exploring other concepts. If they manage to pull off both for 2023, then that would surely be an interesting surprise for the Canadian automotive industry.

New To Canada For 2022

• Kia EV6
• BMW i4
• BMW iX
• Volvo C40 Recharge
• Rivian R1T and R1S *first deliveries to employees in Vancouver*
• Toyota bZ4X *2023 bZ4X has limited inventory and is only available at select authorized dealers in British Columbia and Quebec* -Toyota Canada as of December 2022
• Genesis GV60