'All for it': Calgary car dealer reacts to expected emissions announcement

Ottawa is expected to announce all new cars will have to be zero-emission by 2035, a senior government source says, and that move is one Marty Giles can get behind.

"Plug-in hybrid or hybrid of some kind, I'm all for it," said the owner of Northstar Ford in Calgary.

According to the Electric Vehicle Association of Alberta (EVAA), vehicles that connect to the electric grid will qualify.

"A plug-in hybrid can still run on gasoline and diesel," said William York, EVAA president.

"This isn't the end of burning combustion engine fuels."

The new rules, known as the Electric Vehicle Availability Standard, would help ensure supply is available to the Canadian market and shorten wait times to get an electric vehicle, the senior government source told Reuters, confirming earlier media reports.

Zero-emission vehicles, which include battery electric, plug-in and hydrogen models, must represent 20 per cent of all new car sales in 2026, 60 per cent in 2030 and 100 per cent in 2035, the source said on condition of anonymity.

Details are still trickling out, but the EVAA forecasts the creation of a credit system for the automakers.

“Pure electric vehicles will generate more credits than plug-in hybrids. This is going to create market forces for automakers to produce electric vehicles,” said York.

In the past decade, the number of EVs registered in Alberta has climbed from 83 in 2012 to 9,338 in 2022.

The number of registered EVs are up 65 per cent year-over-year in Alberta, though overall, it represents only 0.26 per cent of the total vehicles on the road in the province.

"I think we can double the fuel mileage of the vehicles. If we have true plug-in hybrid technology, a customer gets to decide, 'Hey I'm in the city today, I'm going to drive electric,'" Giles said.

Global EV sales now make up about 13 per cent of all vehicle sales and are likely to rise to between 40 and 45 per cent of the market by the end of the decade, according to the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA). 

CTV News reached out to the province for a comment on the expected net zero emissions announcement but were told Premier Smith won’t be speak on it until the new measures are made official.