A day after the federal government announced that its rebate program to lower the cost of electric vehicles had run out of funding, the auto sector is banding together to renew its calls to eliminate EV sales mandates.

Three of Canada’s largest auto sector lobby groups — the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association, Global Automakers of Canada and Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association — held a press conference on Tuesday to reiterate their longstanding protest against the mandate.

Federal EV sales mandates require that at least 20 per cent of all new vehicles sold by automakers in 2026 be zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs), with the target increasing incrementally to 100 per cent by 2035. It would impose penalties on automakers who fail to meet the targets.

Meanwhile, the federal Incentives for Zero-Emission Vehicles (iZEV) program that gave consumers up to $5,000 when purchasing an EV ran out of money on Sunday, about two months before it was scheduled to expire in March.

“The end of the iZEV purchase incentive program while maintaining electric vehicle mandates will be a disaster for consumers, dealers, manufacturers and the Canadian economy,” the groups said in a press release on Tuesday.

“I think our members feel a little bit like they’ve been let down,” David Adams, president of Global Automakers of Canada, said. “There was always the assumption that if you’re going to put a mandate in place, ‘OK, government, you’ve got to do your part’ and build out the charging infrastructure, put an incentive in place.”

Both the auto sector and consumers have also criticized government investment levels in EV charging infrastructure.

Brian Kingston, president of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association, said that despite calls by consumers and industry for more investment, the number of public chargers added in 2024 was only 4,717, which was less than the 7,412 added in 2023.

“I just don’t see any evidence that the federal government is taking this seriously,” he said.

The sudden elimination of the federal purchasing incentive while maintaining the EV sales mandates has angered automakers, dealers and consumers. Two EV purchasers emailed the Financial Post on Monday to say they arrived at dealerships planning to purchase an electric vehicle over the weekend and only belatedly learned that the rebate program was no longer in effect.

The end of the iZEV marks an unexpected turn for the federal government, which has put the EV transition at the centre of its priorities, including committing roughly $31 billion in tax credits, production subsidies and other financial support to battery manufacturers and automakers to help build out a domestic supply chain.

Some of the anger owes to poor communication by the government, Charles Bernard, lead economist at the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association, said.

On Friday, Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association said it was pausing the iZEV program, but offered no details as to when or even why.

On another web page, however, Transport Canada indicated that there was more than $71 million remaining to fund the EV incentive purchase program. On Monday morning, the department sent an email to auto groups announcing that in fact the program had run out of funds on Jan. 12.

Transport Canada on Monday reiterated its statements about the success of the iZEV program, noting it was used to help purchase more than 546,000 EVs.

In the third quarter of 2024, EVs accounted for 16.5 per cent of new sales, which was a record. Overall, EVs accounted for 14.2 per cent of all new vehicle sales through the first three quarters of 2024, according to Transport Canada.

“It’s not that EV sales aren’t growing; it’s just they’re maybe not growing at the rate needed to meet those mandate targets,” Adams said.

• Email: gfriedman@postmedia.com

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