Â
Governments need to look beyond the obvious when dealing seriously with greenhouse gas emissions. Vehicle emissions are visible but what is their piece of the emissions pie?
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), transport accounts for 21 per cent of carbon dioxide emissions. Of this amount, roughly three-quarters of transportation emissions (e.g., 15 per cent of total emissions) are the result of road travel. Of this slice, 45 per cent comes from passenger vehicle travel, which includes both buses and private vehicles and 29 per cent is the result of trucks carrying freight. Less than 12 per cent of transport emissions (e.g., 2.5 per cent of total emissions) are the result of air travel, a slightly higher contribution than that from international shipping.
The EPA estimate of transportation’s contribution to greenhouse gas emissions is a bit higher, 26 per cent, which is less than the 30 per cent from electrical generation. Its website listed industry (21 per cent), commercial and residential (12 per cent), agriculture, land use, and forestry (20 per cent), as other major contributors to greenhouse gases. Statistics Canada estimate is 27 per cent of which 69 per cent is related to road transportation.
In conclusion, while use of private motor vehicles is a non-trivial source of carbon dioxide emissions, perhaps 10 per cent (at most), electrification of personal vehicles is a small slice of the solution, particularly if the vehicles are charged with electricity generated by coal power plants.
Given the cost and limitations of EV cars, many owners will keep older gasoline vehicles on the road for decades to come. Canada could begin resembling Cuba with large fleets of old, highly inefficient gas vehicles on our city streets.
John Shepherd, Richmond, B.C.
You might be interested in
How will governments replace revenue from gas tax?
Electric vehicle mandates are destined to fail, Dec. 19
These two articles can be added to the countless other articles taking about zero emission vehicles. There has been lots written and talked about the need to produce and sell more of them to replace the polluting vehicles of today.
I agree with the need and I have one of each. However, I have yet to see any plan to replace the billions of dollars in tax revenue that will have to be replaced when all these vehicles are replaced with zero emitting cars and trucks. How will our governments replace this much needed revenue? Is anyone talking about this?
Dan Faveri, Burlington
Â
Misleading article on EV mandates
Electric vehicle mandates are destined to fail, Dec. 19
This column implies that demand for EVs is not growing quickly enough by noting that only 6.5 per cent of new vehicle sales in Canada were EVs in 2022, but neglected to note that in the first nine months of 2023 this had grown to 10.3 per cent.
Based on this growth, it is certainly not unreasonable to project that consumer demand will grow to 20 per cent or more by 2026. (Indeed, if the current rate of growth in demand continues, EVs would constitute nearly 38 per cent of new vehicle sales by the end of 2026.)
While satisfying the demand for critical minerals like lithium is more challenging, the Union for Concerned Scientists note that increasing the rates of recycling of these materials would go a long way to resolving this challenge. Moreover, newer battery technologies using fewer rare minerals are already in development and some of these are even now being deployed commercially.
There is no doubt that real challenges to switching to all electric vehicles by 2035 do exist, but let’s not exaggerate these using misleading information. At the same time, more sustainable transportation options like electrified rail and mass-transit should also be developed.
Mark Hathaway, Toronto
Blame the industry, not the consumer
Electric vehicle mandates are destined to fail, Dec. 19
In their contribution, the authors blame the fickle consumer for the decline in EV sales. Let’s try an experiment. Walk into any Ford or GM dealership and ask for a F150 Lightning or Chevy Bolt. My bet is that the sales staff would rather sell you into a gas-guzzling F150 or Silverado. High commission, perhaps?
No, it’s not the consumer. It’s the industry that, just like the oil companies, didn’t like the hit on profits and just stopped trying. Now with the help of the pro-corporate Fraser Institute, they’re making it look like it wasn’t them.
Louis Bertrand, Blackstock, ON
How will electric vehicles handle a snowstorm?
It is known to snow in Canada. Some areas of the country suffer from severe snowstorms.
If an electric car got stuck in the snow how long will the battery last? If the battery goes dead, the car will have no heat or the ability to defrost the windows.
How is a car stuck in the snow with a dead battery going to be recharged even a little to get it out of the snow? Has anyone thought of this problem?
Why can’t the government promote hybrid cars that if the battery is dead there may be enough gas to get the car unstuck until a tow truck can rescue it or keep the heat on so no one will suffer frostbite or freeze to death.
I am a former teacher who taught his students to problem solve. Maybe the government needs a refresher course in problem solving.
Terry Middlemiss, Hamilton
In Edmonton electric buses proved to be expensive, unreliable
I don’t think Justin Trudeau heard about the city of Edmonton’s experience with electric vehicles before he mandated they be compulsory after 2035.
Edmonton spent millions of dollars buying a fleet of electric buses. Was driving the electric vehicles the heavenly experience that Liberals want us to believe? No, because now half the fleet is sitting in mothballs as electric vehicles have proven to be expensive, unreliable and inoperable. Edmonton has now budgeted to purchase diesel buses to replace the electric vehicles that are not working.
So when the average Canadian family takes on $60,000 in debt to buy an electric vehicle and discover like Edmonton that half don’t work, will the feds cover their losses?
Chris Robertson, Stony Plain, Alta.
Where are all these long-range electric vehicles?
Do the idiots in Ottawa realize that their plans to ban the sale of non-electric vehicles by 2050 will cripple the country?
Long distance trucks and even school buses will have to be electric, but there are no electric vehicles with enough range.
Where will we get our groceries?
I guess the Ottawa-o-crats will take governments jets to New York to do their shopping — but what about the rest of us?
Canada is a large country, and we need long-range cars. I would be in favour of a law to tax or ban oversize engines — I don’t see the need for a teenager to have a 427 CID V8 to go to school with — but some of us need cars that will take us all the way to our cottages.
Andy Turnbull, Toronto
