Will Quebec be ready for the EV shift by 2035?

Quebec’s environment minister is urging people to switch to electric vehicles by 2035, citing challenges they’ll face finding gas once Quebec’s draft regulation to ban the sale of gas-powered cars comes in.

While gas vehicles can still be driven and used cars can still be sold, the question remains: Will Quebec be ready to switch to electric cars by 2035?

“They’ll find that’s gonna be a bit difficult because the infrastructures for EVs is still in its infancy. That is battery technology could vastly improve, the infrastructure needs to be built to recharge vehicles. And in a cold climate like in Canada for example, we’re finding out that there are some limitations to electric vehicles, that is the range of batteries is much lower in cold weather and that has to be factored as well,” explained Patrick De Haan, the head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.

Jesse Caron, an automotive expert with CAA-Québec added, “Might sound a little bit premature to us at CAA Quebec. We think that there might be some issues with harmonizing the fleets with the rest of Canada and the rest of North America. Especially as the mandate here would be that every vehicle should be purely electric, so battery electric vehicles. Plug-in electric hybrids would not be allowed here and it would be elsewhere in America.”

Quebec has experienced an unprecedented increase in the sales of EVs and plug-in hybrids, accounting for approximately 17 per cent of total car sales in 2024, according to CAA Quebec.

It is uncertain whether this rise will be sustained, as subsidies for electric vehicles are scheduled to decrease twice over the next two years and will be completely dropped by 2027.

“I don’t think it’s realistic just for someone who come from a rural environment. I think urban, yes, but in rural environments and long distances to drive, I think you need hybrid vehicles at best,” said Dan, a Montrealer CityNEws spoke with. “I think you will need a variety of cars. I think it would be good to have electric cars, but totally electric, I don’t think it’s realistic.”

Another Montrealer bought an EV car just a week ago, taking advantage of federal, provincial, and manufacturer rebates.

“Being a young adult still student, I don’t think it would have been the most economic for me, but with the three rebates for sure that’s why I went and got the car before the end of the year. I wouldn’t have if not, for sure.”