2025 ZEV Regs – 1K. ZEV sales mandates work, and they work in Canada
2025 ZEV Regulations Review Toolkit
1. REASONS TO KEEP THE ZEV REGS
ZEV sales mandates work, and they work in Canada
A growing body of evidence shows that sales mandates are effective at significantly increasing ZEV sales.
A 2025 study that simulated the impact of a ZEV sales mandate and other policies in Canada found that a, “strong ZEV sales standard can induce 95−100% ZEV sales by 2035, while inducing more ZEV-supportive strategies by the automakers, including an average 22% reduction in the prices of ZEVs, a 6% increase in the price of conventional vehicles, and a doubling of ZEV-related Research & Development (R&D) investment.”1
We can see this in the real world too, by comparing ZEV sales in provinces and territories both with and without provincial sales mandates. In 2024, ZEVs represented 13.8% of new cars sold in Canada. The number was much higher in provinces with sales mandates and provincial rebates: 30.1% in Quebec and 20.7% in B.C.2
1 John Axsen and Chandan Bhardwaj, “Subsidies, Standards, or Both? Trade-Offs among Policies for 100% Zero-Emissions Vehicle Sales”, Environmental Science & Technology 2025 59 (4), 1932-1941. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.4c11772. Retrieved on 20 September 2025 from: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acs.est.4c11772?ref=article_openPDF&trk=public_post_comment-text.
2 Statistics Canada, “In 2024, one in seven new vehicles sold in Canada were zero emission”. Retrieved on 20 September 2025 from: https://www.statcan.gc.ca/o1/en/plus/7915-2024-one-seven-new-vehicles-sold-canada-were-zero-emission.