According to Plug’n Drive, an Ontario-based non-profit that promotes the use of electric vehicles, only four zero-emission SUV models are currently available in Canada.
More than 121,000 vehicles were purchased with the rebates, which range from $2,500 for plug-in hybrids to $5,000 for battery only.
The year after Premier Doug Ford cancelled Ontario’s rebate program in 2018, new electric-vehicle registrations plunged 41 per cent.
In the last year, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick all introduced EV rebates.
Rebates are not cheap, and some economists argue they’re one of the most expensive ways to cut greenhouse-gas emissions.
Alghabra said the first 100,000 cars rebated under the iZEV program are reducing Canada’s greenhouse-gas emissions by about 352,000 tonnes a year, or about what 78,000 gas-powered cars produce on average over 12 months.
Hyundai Canada lists the base price of a gas-powered Kona as $21,999, and the electric model at $43,699.