Tausi Insider

Toyota isn’t giving up on its iconic Prius nameplate, yet. An all-new and drastically different looking 2023 Prius hybrid and Prius Prime plug-in hybrid were unveiled at the City Market Social House in California on Wednesday night, ahead of the 2022 Los Angeles Auto Show. “We want to build as many hybrids as we can because the goal is carbon reduction,” said David Christ, group vice president and general manager of Toyota Motor Sales USA, in a one-on-one interview ahead of the unveilings. “Since we started with Prius 25 years ago, we’ve sold 5.5 million hybrids in the U.S. – 20 million globally and that has resulted in 82 million tons of CO2 emissions that have been reduced – that’s the equivalent of 5.5 million all-electric EVs.” David Christ, group vice president and general manager of the Toyota Division at Toyota Motor North America speaks as Japanese automaker Toyota unveils the newly redesigned 2023 Prius prior to the start of the Los Angeles Auto Show in Los Angeles, Californ...

A report by DesRosiers Automotive Consultants says light vehicle sales in November rose 4.1 per cent compared with last year. The firm estimates 114,966 light vehicle were sold last month. The result was up from 110,448 in November 2021. However, DAC noted that sales totalled 143,315 in November 2019 before the pandemic struck. DAC managing partner Andrew King says sales for the year to date stand at 1.38 million units, making it likely that sales for 2022 will finish the year below 1.5 million. King says if that happens it will be first year the market has fallen below that threshold since 2009. https://www.tausiinsider.com/november-auto-sales-in-canada-up-from-year-ago-report-says/?feed_id=331194&_unique_id=645257c64c014

Canada is falling behind in the race to electrification. Haven Daley/The Associated Press Brian Kingston is president and CEO of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association. The electric vehicle (EV) transformation is rapidly picking up speed, with automakers committing an estimated US$1.2-trillion to electrification through 2030 to build tens of millions of electric vehicles, more than double the amount from only one year ago. As more EVs come to market, countries around the world are rapidly building charging infrastructure and supporting citizens in the transition to electric. But while other countries race ahead to an electrified future, Canada is driving on a low battery. According to the EV Readiness Index , developed by global accounting firm Ernst & Young, Canada has fallen from eighth place in 2021 to 13th in 2022 of the world’s top 14 vehicle markets. The main reasons? A lack of ambition on charging infrastructure and consumer incentives. The most recent assessment...

The lower the kilowatt hours, the greater the efficiency. Illustration by Glenn Harvey When I was driving home from a family visit in the spring, the display on the dashboard notified me that my electric car’s energy usage over the hour-long drive had – are you sitting down for this? – dipped below an average of 12 kilowatt hours per 100 kilometres. I just about pounded the air and screamed, “Yes!” There are many joys to driving an electric vehicle. The silence comes to mind. The impressive acceleration never gets old. Living on the cutting edge of technology for the first time in my Luddite life offers another thrill. But for me, nothing tops the happiness I get from observing, and improving upon, energy efficiency – that is, how far I’m going on a charge. Dipping below that 12-kilowatt average was a major threshold. If the number looks a bit unwieldy, let me translate: It tells me how much of my battery was being used to travel 100 kilometres. The lower the kilowatt hours, the grea...

An electric vehicle charges in Ottawa, on July 13. Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press One-fifth of all passenger cars, SUVs and trucks sold in Canada in 2026 will need to run on electricity under new regulations Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault is proposing Wednesday. By 2030, the mandate will hit 60 per cent of all sales and by 2035, every passenger vehicle sold in Canada will need to be electric. Guilbeault’s parliamentary secretary Julie Dabrusin said during Wednesday’s announcement the new target is “about making sure that Canadians have access to the vehicles they want.” Manufacturers or importers who don’t meet the sales targets could face penalties under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act through a phased-in approach. Canada still has a long way to go before approaching the first target in 2026. In the first six months of this year, sales of fully-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles made up just 7.2 per cent of new car registrations. For all of 2021, the proporti...

Ottawa has announced sales targets for zero-emission vehicles, outlining proposed regulations that would make electric vehicles more readily available to Canadian consumers. DARRYL DYCK/Tausi Insider Ottawa has announced new sales mandates for zero-emission vehicles, saying the proposed regulations will make electric vehicles more available to consumers and help Canada hit its goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. The federal government said on Wednesday that the regulations would require at least 20 per cent of new vehicles sold in Canada to be zero emission by 2026, at least 60 per cent by 2030 and 100 per cent by 2035. Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault had previously said that the government planned to introduce a zero-emission-vehicle (ZEV) mandate this year or next. Environmental and energy groups welcomed the news, with the Pembina Institute calling a sales mandate a game changer that would make electric vehicles more available and result in lower prices as manufact...

Automakers have been experimenting with subscription fees for a range of vehicle amenities and services as a way to generate additional revenue streams. Mike Blake/Reuters When you think of the car of the future, you probably envision an electric-powered vehicle that can parallel park itself or perhaps even drive you to the office. But there’s another, less high-tech shift in the industry that’s already hitting the mass market: subscriptions for your car. In Canada, for example, some General Motors GM-N and Toyota TM-N new models now come with free trials of digital services that include the ability to lock and unlock a vehicle, or start and stop the engine using a smartphone, even from a faraway location. After the introductory period is over, drivers will have to pony up a monthly fee to keep using those features. Automakers around the world have been experimenting with subscriptions for years with mixed results. But as the industry emerges from the pandemic’s supply chain logjams ...

Statistics Canada says wholesale sales rose 0.5 per cent month over month in November to $83.8-billion. The agency says the sales were boosted by the motor vehicle and motor vehicle parts and accessories subsector and the machinery, equipment and supplies group. Sales of motor vehicle and motor vehicle parts and accessories gained 10.1 per cent at $13.8-billion in November, a record high for the subsector. The machinery, equipment and supplies subsector rose 2.0 per cent to $17.9-billion in November, lifted higher by the construction, forestry, mining, and industrial machinery, equipment and supplies industry. Meanwhile, sales in the miscellaneous subsector fell 5.1 per cent to $12.2-billion. Statistics Canada says overall sales in constant dollars rose 0.1 per cent in November. https://www.tausiinsider.com/canadian-wholesale-sales-rose-0-5-month-over-month-in-november-to-83-8-billion/?feed_id=323464&_unique_id=63e1f75410748

General Motors GM-N said Thursday it was investing $918-million in four U.S. plants for V-8 gasoline engine production and electric vehicle components. The largest U.S. automaker has a two-prong strategy to ramp up EV production while continuing to invest in its current gasoline-engine vehicles that account for the vast majority of profits and most of its U.S. vehicle sales. It has pledged to end production of new gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035. The majority of the funding, $854-million, is to prepare plants in Michigan, New York and Ohio to produce GM’s sixth-generation small block V-8 engine and an additional $64-million in Rochester, New York and Defiance, Ohio for castings and components to support EV production. GM said the investment showed it was committed to providing “a strong portfolio of (internal combustion engine) vehicles well into the future while continuing to accelerate its transformation to an all-electric future.” Many workers are concerned that the shift to EV ...

The savings that come with driving an electric vehicle can add up over the course of a decade. Illustration by Glenn Harvey I’m not a smug driver, but I’ll admit to this: When gas prices rose to a record high last June, above $2 a litre, I got a pleasant thrill out of driving an electric vehicle that can be fully charged for as little as a few bucks. Are EVs a financial godsend? They’re not cheap to buy. However, the savings associated with lower operating costs can easily translate into thousands of dollars over a decade, even for an infrequent driver. Commuters may find the savings can have a huge impact on the overall cost of their EVs, especially if gas prices remain high. Over the year I’ve owned my Hyundai Ioniq 5, I’ve driven almost 10,000 kilometres – did I mention that I don’t drive much? Charging costs have varied, ranging from free (charging is thrown in with parking) to cheap at-home top-ups to faster charging in my neighbourhood to more expensive high-speed charging alon...

A Tesla sedan gets a charge at a Tesla Supercharging station in Cranberry, Pa, on Nov. 16, 2022. Gene J. Puskar/The Associated Press Ratcheting up his criticism of the Biden administration, Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin on Wednesday moved to delay new tax credits for electric vehicles, a key feature of President Joe Biden’s landmark climate law. Manchin said guidelines issued by the Treasury Department allow manufacturers in Europe and other countries to bypass requirements that significant portions of EV batteries be produced in North America. The climate law, officially known as the Inflation Reduction Act, “is first and foremost an energy security bill,” Manchin said, adding that “the EV tax credits were designed to grow domestic manufacturing and reduce our reliance on foreign supply chains for the critical minerals needed to produce EV batteries.” Manchin’s bill comes as Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and White House climate adviser Ali Zaidi are set to attend the Washington, ...