Following the United States’ lead and scrapping the EV Availability Standard would be a mistake, says Electric Mobility Canada president, Daniel Breton

Some have been fighting the transition towards cleaner and safer cars for decades.

As demonstrated in a report published by the Union of Concerned Scientists in 2017, “The auto industry’s tactics of denial, delay and hyperbole have emerged at pivotal points throughout the last seven decades.”

Here are a few examples.

• 1966: On safety, Henry Ford II said, “Many of the temporary [safety] standards are unreasonable, arbitrary, and technically unfeasible. . . .If we can’t meet them when they are published, we’ll have to close down.”
• 1970: On catalytic converters American auto executive, Lee Iacocca, said the Clean Air Act’s limits on tailpipe pollution, “could prevent continued production of automobiles” and “do irreparable damage to the American economy.”
• 1985: Ford and GM petition the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to reduce fuel economy standards for the 1986, 1987 and 1988 model years, claiming that they would need to “deprive [their] customers of a product they want” in order to meet the standards.
• 1994:  On tightening fuel economy standards, Robert Liberatore of Chrysler declared that such action “would have a very destructive effect on [their] business.”
• 2000: Walter Huizenga, president of a dealer trade group claimed that, “If Congress mandates an increase in fuel economy, certain models of pickups, minivans, and sport-utility vehicles could potentially be eliminated from the market.”

So, the industry had been advocating for voluntary measures and subsidies. But do voluntary measures work?

No.

In 2005, the Canadian government signed a voluntary agreement with carmakers to reduce their GHG emissions by 5.3 Mt between 2005 and 2010. Because they were not bound to meet these targets, automakers missed them by a whopping 95 per cent.

Case in point.

In 2019, the International Energy Agency calculated that the Canadian light-duty vehicle fleet ranked last in the world for fuel efficiency. 

In 2022, according to NRCan’s most recent numbers, Canada is still amongst the worst — if not the worst — in the world.

Seeing as Canada has one of the least efficient vehicle fleets globally, contributing significantly to greenhouse gas emissions, it’s time we take responsibility and lead by example by investing in cleaner technologies, promoting sustainable transportation, and making smarter choices. We can and must do better.

Or at least, that’s what one would expect.

But reality tells a different story.

Despite the urgency of climate action, some legacy automaker representatives are actively lobbying for Canada to abandon its EV Availability Standard and instead align with U.S. regulations. The catch? The Trump administration is currently dismantling its own rules on light-duty vehicle efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions.

In effect, they’re asking Canada to scrap its efforts to make vehicles cleaner and safer just to follow a deregulatory path that undermines climate progress. Rather than prioritizing what’s best for Canadians, they’re pushing for what could be called “51st state policies.”

Is that really what Canadians want?

We don’t think so.

This opinion piece is written by Daniel Breton, President and CEO of the industry association Electric Mobility Canada.