The home of the Electric Highway is at a crossroads between government optimism and on-the-ground realities.
British Columbia has the highest rate of electric vehicles on the road—but that still means just 3% of vehicles on the road are electric currently, which makes Canada’s mandates around electric adoption seem patently absurd.
This is the conclusion drawn from the Energy Futures Institute, which released a report earlier this year bluntly titled “Are EV Mandates and Market Reality on a Collision Course?”
The answer, it increasingly appears, is yes.
This year, BC is already demanding that 10% of new vehicle sales are electric, even as the Province’s own data shows that adoption is slowing.
“It’s been clear for some time that BC’s EV mandates are unrealistic,” says Barry Penner, a former B.C. Minister of Environment and Attorney General who now functions as Chair of the Energy Futures Institute.
Currently, EVs make up about 13% of total vehicle sales in BC, which is down markedly from 22% last year.
Yet, in 2026, BC’s mandate will up from 10% to 26%. By 2030, that figure climbs to 90%, and then 100% by 2035.
Canada’s federal mandates are similarly aggressive, also demanding 100% of vehicle sales be zero-emission within of a decade.
“The government’s own documents show EV sales are declining, just as the EV mandates kick in,” Penner said.
Building on the Energy Futures report, a recent Ipsos poll of British Columbians revealed strong opposition to the unrealistic mandates.
The survey found that 56% oppose the government mandates versus just 34% in support—and that gap has only widened since last year (53% vs 38%). And those strongly opposed to the mandates outnumber those strongly in favour by more than a three-to-one ratio (36% versus 10%).
Notably, the vast majority of support is concentrated in Metro Vancouver, with much of the opposition hailing from the Northern and Southern Interior regions of the province.
One way that BC and Canada could appear a good number of residents is by counting hybrids toward EV targets—76% approve of this idea, according to the data from Ipsos.
“British Columbians are saying loud and clear that they want affordability, flexibility, and choice,” says Penner. “Not punitive mandates that punish families who choose hybrids, many of which, like the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid and Honda Civic Hybrid, are built right here in Canada.”
One serious concern around the EV mandates is that national charging infrastructure is severely lagging behind the adoption levels being pushed by government. Despite intense investment, projects such as the Electric Highway have barely been able to keep up with just 3% of vehicles being zero-emission.
The Energy Futures report noted this dearth of public charging infrastructure, as well as the higher upfront cost of EVs, as major friction points toward adoption levels anywhere close to the government mandates.
“It’s important not to put the cart in front of the horse, by limiting vehicle choice even before the necessary charging and other electrical infrastructure is in place to accommodate this change in transportation technology,” Penner said. “It’s time to recognize what the public already knows: mandates need to be rethought, not forced.”