Ottawa’s EV Mandate: Potential Security and Industry Issues Linked to China
Ottawa’s electric vehicle (EV) mandate has given rise to speculation that Canada won’t meet its targets without bringing in Chinese automakers like BYD, which describes itself as “the biggest car brand you’ve never heard of.”
Ottawa’s electric vehicle (EV) mandate has given rise to speculation that Canada won’t meet its targets without bringing in Chinese automakers like BYD, which describes itself as “the biggest car brand you’ve never heard of.”
BYD’s potential for growth, especially given its most compelling selling point—its EVs are cheap, at roughly half the price of a comparable Tesla—would add to over-reliance on Chinese-manufactured products and be a security risk, says Heather Exner-Pirot, director of energy, natural resources, and environment at Macdonald-Laurier Institute.
“We need to import Chinese-made EVs if we’re going to meet their [Ottawa’s] EV mandate. So for me, from a security perspective, that’s obviously a risk,” Ms. Exner-Pirot told The Epoch Times on Jan. 9.
But these incentives are fuelling the imports of Chinese-made Teslas to Canada and are coming at the expense of companies that actually make cars in Canada with Canadian parts and materials, said Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association in a Dec. 19 post on X.
