As the province tops up the clean energy vehicle fund to provide incentives to buyers the move is being welcomed by the New Car Dealers Association.
Association President Blair Qualey says the ten million dollar top up is good news but it likely won’t last long.
“If it is four or five months I will be excited given the rate of application these days. I mean over the weekend the number went from half a million dollars to $300,000. As we may see a bunch more Teslas come along and those people are expecting, I think, when they put their deposit down to have access to the clean energy vehicle fund. Ten million dollars sounds like a lot of money but given the rate of application I suspect it will go fairly quickly.”
Qualey says EV sales have gone “crazy” with the highest per capita penetration of electric vehicles in Canada, and perhaps all of North America.
He says in B.C. 3.7% of all light vehicle sales are EVs and he expects that number to continue to rise.