B.C. aims to have EVs make up 90 per cent of new-car sales by 2030

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Drivers living in the country’s most western province are going to want to embrace electric vehicles sooner than later.

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This week, the province announced its CleanBC Roadmap to 2030 , a plan that aims to make significant reductions to carbon emissions.

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The plan touches on all aspects of life, from building to agriculture to transportation, and in terms of mobility, there are strict targets, including the phasing out of all new gas-powered vehicle sales in the province by 2035, to match the new federal targets. That’s been bumped up five years from the original 2040 goal.

It hopes to get there by seeing zero-emissions vehicles (ZEVs) account for 26 per cent of new-car sales by 2026; and 90 per cent of sales by 2030. Last year, ZEVs made up 9.4 per cent of the province’s new light-vehicle sales composition, the report says.

The announcement comes ahead of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, which takes place in Glasgow, Scotland at the end of the month. Clearly B.C. wants to be seen at the forefront of change.

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The province also plans to complete its Electric Highway by 2024, which means it will ensure that there’s “broad geographic coverage” for EV charging sites across the province; and by 2030 says it will have added 10,000 new fast-charging public EV stations throughout British Columbia.

Parts of the province are already feeling the squeeze. Last year, the City of Vancouver announced the impending arrival of hefty fees for residential street parking passes, specifically for new-vehicle gas-guzzlers like luxury sports cars, SUVs, and trucks, all part of the Climate Emergency Parking Program . Earlier this fall, Vancouver attempted to entice residents to trade in their old gas vehicles for a shiny new public transit pass .

Will this all be enough to completely eliminate gas cars by 2035? It’s hard to say. But with major automakers allocating enormous budgets to EV development combined with proactive provincial initiatives like these, it’s not as farfetched as it used to be.