Pulling the plug on an Ontario rebate program to help with the cost of electric vehicles could be a major blow to the still fledgling industry.
The Toronto Star reports the incoming Progressive Conservative government plans to kill the Electric and Hydrogen Vehicle Incentive Program established in July 2010.
Over the last eight years, Ontario has paid out over $175-million in rebates of up to $14,000 teach to help cover the cost of 17,000 vehicles. In 2016, the Liberals changed the rules and refused to offer rebates on vehicles selling for more than $75,000.
The program is funded in part by proceeds from Ontario's cap and trade system which the PCs have also vowed to scrap.
"It's going to really, obviously, hurt sales big time," David Booth, automotive writer with Driving.ca told NEWSTALK 1010's Jerry Agar Thursday.
"If historical examples are any judge, you're looking at about an 80 per cent drop in plug-in vehicles, both plug-in hybrid vehicles and also the full electric battery-powered vehicles."
Booth points to a dramatic plunge in the sale of electric vehicles in Norway in recent years after that country's government temporarily phased out tax incentives for them.
"They literally went down 80 or 85 per cent in four or five months. In fact they went down more than 50 per cent in the first month."
Booth suggests the market for electric vehicles in Canada has been stuck in neutral.
"The total number of electrified vehicles has really stagnated at about three, 3.2 per cent for the last 10, 12 years."
Booth says the demand for battery-powered cars is increasing year-over-year but that is cannibalizing sales of hybrid cars, as Toyota Prius drivers trade up.
Despite technological advancements and improvements to range, Booth says the industry is still far away from the dream of an electric car as fast to recharge as a gasoline-powered one might be to refuel.