The province of Saskatchewan has doubled its EV registration fee from $150 to $300. This price increase is unlikely to deter serious EV buyers, but it is a bit strange nonetheless.
The province originally launched this fee in late 2021 to make sure that EV owners pay a fair share for using the roads in the province. Regular cars pay for road maintenance through taxes collected on gas.
In 2024 there were only 1,394 EVs sold in the province, reported by Auto123, and an open letter from the Saskatchewan EV Association alleges that there are less than 5,000 EVs in the province total. So, this new EV road tax is not expected to bring in much money for 2025.
Canada has a target for all new car sales to be EVs by 2035 which is only ten years away. The removal of the federal EV buying incentive and weird road taxes like this likely won’t help us reach that goal. Tariffs preventing Canadians from importing cutting-edge EVs from China are also likely to hinder things.
That all being said, there is a chance that the federal government will scale back its 2035 EV ambitions now that Justin Trudeau is no longer Prime Minister. There is speculation that Mark Carney will call for a new election soon, and unless the Greens win, I don’t think any party is running on an overly environmental platform.
Source: Auto123
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