The Ontario government, led by Prime Minister Dalton McGuinty, yesterday made headlines by announcing a new program that will make it easier to buy electric vehicles while ultimately helping the province become a world leader in building and driving electric cars. However, upon further review, this program is not as attractive as it seems.
In reality, despite multiple attempts to reach the cabinet of the Minister of Transport and the government’s communications office, Auto123.com was unable to learn how said program will be applied. Aside from mentioning that buyers will get a price incentive ranging from $4,000 to $10,000, no concrete detail has been released.
In fact, it was impossible to get the confirmation that the various hybrid technologies currently sold in Canada, including those of the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight, will be eligible under the terms of the program.
For the time being, it appears that only plug-in hybrids and fully-electric cars qualify. Ironically, no such vehicle is available to Canadian consumers yet and it’s no slam-dunk that there will be any by July 1, 2010, when the program is scheduled to come into effect.
Now, you’re probably wondering: what about low-speed vehicles (LSV) like the Zenn or Nemo? Sure, both are 100-percent electric, but they’re not even allowed to circulate on Ontario’s roads, regardless of the speed limit.
Yesterday’s announcement could have easily been delayed a few more months and the impact would have likely been the same. While it’s understandable that the government did not want to cannibalize hybrid vehicle sales (buyers would have waited until next year to buy one), the lack of information might produce the same result. After all, who would want to buy a car only to learn a few weeks later that some form of rebate was available?
Arguably, this was nothing more than a political move and, although Mr. McGuinty’s intention is a noble one, we simply can’t gauge the real value of the program until we find out every detail about it. Interestingly, if the government’s calculations are correct and one out of every 20 vehicles driven in Ontario is electrically powered by 2020, more than $3 billion would be needed to finance the program. Will the government go that far?
Hopefully, the answers will come sooner rather than later.
In reality, despite multiple attempts to reach the cabinet of the Minister of Transport and the government’s communications office, Auto123.com was unable to learn how said program will be applied. Aside from mentioning that buyers will get a price incentive ranging from $4,000 to $10,000, no concrete detail has been released.
In fact, it was impossible to get the confirmation that the various hybrid technologies currently sold in Canada, including those of the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight, will be eligible under the terms of the program.
For the time being, it appears that only plug-in hybrids and fully-electric cars qualify. Ironically, no such vehicle is available to Canadian consumers yet and it’s no slam-dunk that there will be any by July 1, 2010, when the program is scheduled to come into effect.
Now, you’re probably wondering: what about low-speed vehicles (LSV) like the Zenn or Nemo? Sure, both are 100-percent electric, but they’re not even allowed to circulate on Ontario’s roads, regardless of the speed limit.
Yesterday’s announcement could have easily been delayed a few more months and the impact would have likely been the same. While it’s understandable that the government did not want to cannibalize hybrid vehicle sales (buyers would have waited until next year to buy one), the lack of information might produce the same result. After all, who would want to buy a car only to learn a few weeks later that some form of rebate was available?
Arguably, this was nothing more than a political move and, although Mr. McGuinty’s intention is a noble one, we simply can’t gauge the real value of the program until we find out every detail about it. Interestingly, if the government’s calculations are correct and one out of every 20 vehicles driven in Ontario is electrically powered by 2020, more than $3 billion would be needed to finance the program. Will the government go that far?
Hopefully, the answers will come sooner rather than later.