Powering Up

A national and sub-national outlook on electric vehicle adoption, barriers, and impacts to the grid

Powering Up is a collaboration between Electric Mobility Canada and Dunsky Energy + Climate Advisors. Its goal is to provide robust data points for national and sub-national decision-making regarding the electrification of transportation. Light-duty vehicles (LDVs) were chosen as a focus because of their significant impact on total transportation greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) in Canada.

Dashboard

The Powering Up Dashboard is an interactive data visualization platform developed as part of our EV adoption modelling work with Dunsky Climate + Energy. It provides jurisdiction-specific forecasts and insights on electric vehicle adoption across Canada, enabling users to explore the impacts of consumer economics, policy options, and electricity system impacts at national and provincial levels.

By making this data publicly accessible, the dashboard supports policymakers, businesses, and the public in understanding and addressing the key challenges to accelerating electric mobility.

The complete set of raw research data is available for download in .CSV format here.

Addressing barriers to electric vehicle deployment is crucial to ensuring that Canada can meet its near-term climate targets (for 2030 and 2035) and maintain a realistic chance of achieving greater transportation decarbonization by 2050. By thoroughly examining key barriers to Zero-emission Vehicle (ZEV) adoption—including regionally tailored assessments of consumer affordability, customer economics, and electricity system impacts—our reports aim to identify policies and interventions that would enable the transition to electric mobility.

In this National Report and the accompanying Provincial and Territorial Reports, we outline the policy landscape and historical trajectory surrounding the adoption of light-duty ZEV in Canada, and provide a forecast of ZEV adoption under multiple scenarios between 2025 and 2040. We then analyze the implications of this adoption on electricity demand across the country and how utilities, policymakers, and private actors can support a transition to ZEVs that is reliable, affordable, and predictable.

Key Takeaways

Technology advancements will lead to ZEVs dominating the light-duty vehicle market, achieving 82% market share of new sales by 2040 even in a low-growth scenario.
Policymakers have a critical opportunity in the next few years to set Canada on a stronger path to vehicle electrification, roughly doubling the cumulative cost-savings and emissions benefits by 2040.
On average, Canadians will save approximately $1,650 annually per vehicle on fuel, not to mention the benefits from reduced greenhouse gas emissions and improved air quality.
With effective “managed charging” programs to encourage ZEV charging when there is excess grid capacity, the revenue utilities earn from charging can more than offset the cost of upgrades required to support ZEV adoption.
The most impactful tools that local actors have to support the adoption of electric vehicles are increasing charging access, increasing the local supply of ZEVs, and reducing vehicle purchase costs.

Read the Reports

CANADA

BRITISH COLUMBIA

ALBERTA

SASKATCHEWAN

MANITOBA

ONTARIO

QUEBEC

NEW BRUNSWICK

NOVA SCOTIA

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND

NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR

YUKON

NORTHWEST TERRITORIES

NUNAVUT

To support the mandate of Canada’s Net-Zero Advisory Body related to research, this project was undertaken with the financial support of the Government of Canada. Funding was provided through the Environmental Damages Funds’ Climate Action and Awareness Fund, administered by Environment and Climate Change Canada.