OTTAWA — While passenger EVs dominate headlines, bigger vehicles, like buses and trucks, are often left out of the conversation. A new Clean Energy Canada report, The Payload, dives into the status of Canada’s transition to clean buses and trucks, finding that the country is missing out on a big opportunity to cut air pollution and boost our manufacturing sector.
Transportation makes up a quarter of Canada’s emissions, and buses and trucks nearly half of that. Meanwhile, 15,300 premature deaths per year are linked to air pollution, with vans, trucks, and buses having an outsized impact.
Getting more zero-emission buses and trucks on Canada’s roads could also be a boon for our homegrown manufacturing industry. The first fully electric vehicle to ever roll off a Canadian assembly line was a delivery van (GM’s Brightdrop Zevo 600), and there are no less than seven clean bus and truck manufacturers headquartered in Canada.
Despite clear upsides, Canada is firmly at the back of the pack when it comes to adoption. Just 2% of new trucks and buses sold in Canada in 2023 were zero-emissions, compared to 9% globally. By failing to put our homemade vehicles on the road, we’re putting Canadian companies at a disadvantage in the global market.
Thankfully, there are a number of actions governments can take to accelerate the deployment of cleaner trucks and buses, as the report details. These include purchase incentives to reduce the upfront cost for fleets and operators, support for charging, and regulations that compel manufacturers to sell more zero-emission commercial vehicles.
Whatever route we take, it’s time to stop overlooking our biggest vehicles.
KEY FACTS
- Every local delivery truck electrified is the equivalent of more than five households adopting EVs.
- In California, zero-emission school buses, trucks, and vans made up 17% of new sales. The state’s zero-emissions commercial vehicle sales doubled between 2022 and 2023.
- A study in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area found that a zero-emission urban delivery van would save a business between $3,800 to $4,400 per year on fuel compared to its fossil-fuel equivalent.
- A recent study found that diesel commercial vehicles in the Greater Toronto Area are responsible for 9,810 years of life lost annually.
- The air in Metro Vancouver on a weekday has more than double the amount of nitrogen oxide emissions compared to weekends, largely because of the significant drop in commercial traffic.
