As part of our work with Climate Smart, we recently learned about some great incentives that are currently available in BC for electric vehicles. We’d like to share with you some of the information they sent to us, in case anyone wants to take advantage of the offers!
Benefits of electric vehicles / EVs cost as little as $320 a year in fuel, as compared to $2,400 for a gasoline vehicle (based on BC gas prices and average driving assumptions). They also have fewer moving parts than traditional gas or diesel engines, meaning much less maintenance is needed. In terms of range, all Battery Electric Vehicles can drive at least 100 km before needing to be recharged, with most ranges reaching 200 km. There are some BEVS that can drive up to 540 km! If you’d like to know more about electric vehicles, there is a beginners guide here.
Charging / You can check the locations of public charge stations on online resources, including: PlugShare and ChargeHub. Alternatively, you might want to look into installing a charger in your home. There is currently an offer to provide a charger for your home through ZapBC, which provides a $1,100 discount on the charger and installation.
Saving money / There are now electric cars available across makes and price points. You can access a list of those currently available in BC here.
There are currently three offers you can make use of to save money on the cost of a new car; as an extra bonus, they can be added together, meaning you can save even more! The first is a newly announced federal offer, which provides up to $5000 towards the cost of “zero-emissions” vehicles (i.e. battery-electric, plug-in hybrid electric, hydrogen fuel cell): http://www.tc.gc.ca/en/services/road/innovative-technologies/zero-emission-vehicles.html.
The second is a “scrap-it offer”, meaning you get a discount when you scrap an eligible vehicle up to $6000: https://scrapit.ca/.
The third is a point of sale offer, which means you automatically get up to $5000 off the cost of an eligible vehicle when you purchase or lease it (no need to fill in paperwork to request money back!): https://www.cevforbc.ca/.
Further information /If you’d like to know more, the PlugIn BC website is a great place to start: https://pluginbc.ca
