this post was submitted on 26 May 2025

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119

Ottawa to bring back EV incentives: Minister Joly (canadianautodealer.ca)

submitted 3 days ago by Sunshine@piefed.social to c/canada@lemmy.ca

32 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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[–] nbailey@lemmy.ca 26 points 3 days ago (1 children)

The electric vehicles we should be subsidizing are trolley busses and trams. Or, if we want Future Technology Self Driving Hype we can invest in the original electric self driving vehicle, the electric metro train with ATC. Not some dentist-ass Lexus that’s still going to sit in traffic and make life miserable for everybody else.

[–] ProgrammingSocks@pawb.social 6 points 2 days ago

And ebikes. But they might have to do something about the whole "governments with no jurisdiction ripping out bike lanes" thing.

[–] Nouveau_Burnswick@lemmy.world 39 points 3 days ago (2 children)

$5,000 for an electric car. $0 for an electric bike or other PEV.

That same $5,000 that will (maybe) replace one ICE car with one EV could just outright buy 2-3 E-bikes that would completely eliminate cars from the road.

[–] LeFantome@programming.dev 8 points 3 days ago

Totally agree with this.

[+] Adderbox76@lemmy.ca -13 points 3 days ago (9 children)

Have fun getting groceries. Have fun renovating your house. Have fun taking a load of household recycling to where it needs to go.

Basically have fun doing anything actual real adults have to do in the really real world.

I swear to god, you people who think that replacing vehicles with bikes is actually feasible are so laughably naive about how the actual world works that you must just live on a commune somewhere drinking ayahuasca and playing fucking bongos.

Bikes are great. Ebikes are great. But here in the real world, adults need to do adult stuff. You might as well be telling people that we should all be skateboarding everywhere...

[–] glibg@lemmy.ca 17 points 3 days ago (1 children)

You know there are "actual real adults" who live without a car and have managed to navigate all the problems you've mentioned. It's not impossible, it just requires some changes that sometimes add inconvenience.

For example, when I need to use a truck I either borrow or rent one for a day or two. The number of vehicles that just sit around unused is a testament to the fact that there are way more cars on the road than necessary. And we're all footing the bill for it with our taxes, lungs, and sanity.

[+] Adderbox76@lemmy.ca -8 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (3 children)

Solutions need to be based in reality; and the reality is that getting rid of vehicles for bikes doesn't change anything in the real world because 20 people sharing a single truck for an hour each week to do their shit uses just as much fuel and causes just as much pollution as those same 20 people using 20 trucks for an hour.

And that single truck, seeing twenty times the usage, will wear out faster and end up using exponentially MORE fuel and causing MORE pollution as it ages and wears out; eventually needing to be replaced 20 times faster.

THAT is what I mean when I say "really real world". Saying some hippy-dippy bullshit about how let's replace trucks with ebikes isn't contributing to any sort of serious discussion about realistic solutions. It only exists to make you feel better about yourself without needing to examine the long term repercussions.

[–] emeralddawn45@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 2 days ago

This comment is unbelievably stupid. People don't only drive their trucks for things that they would otherwise have to rent a car for. I guarantee for a huge percentage of truck owners 95%+ of their usage could easily be replaced by an ebike. You dont need a 3 ton pickup to drive to the corner store to pick up smokes, or to get to work.

[–] glibg@lemmy.ca 7 points 2 days ago

The difference is that we, as a vehicle-sharing community, have saved 19 trucks worth of money and there are 19 less trucks sitting around on streets and in parking lots. We've all been fed personal vehicle propaganda non-stop for like 100 years, I don't blame you.

[–] KindnessIsPunk@lemmy.ca 6 points 2 days ago

20 people sharing a single truck for an hour each week to do their shit uses just as much fuel and causes just as much pollution as those same 20 people using 20 trucks for an hour.

This is incorrect, over half the greenhouse gasses released during the service life of a vehicle are made when it is created.

[–] NotSteve_@lemmy.ca 15 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I guess The Netherlands or any other country that has proper bike infrastructure isn’t the real world.

And even in Canada where the infrastructure sucks, I have multiple small grocery stores in my area within walking distance and one big one within a five minute bike ride. I just don’t do Costco suburb size groceries loads and I could easily survive without a car

Also for renovations, you can rent a van or get a cargo attachment for your bike

[–] KindnessIsPunk@lemmy.ca 9 points 2 days ago

Jokes on you I bike to work and the grocery store every day. Skill issue.

[–] pedz@lemmy.ca 10 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Hi, I live in fantasy world. I get my groceries on foot, making multiple trips a week instead of one big trip. Sometimes I go to a bigger store with my bike trailer and my panniers. I live in an apartment (even more signs that I'm not a real adult), so no renovations. And for recycling stuff like old computers, tables and stuff like that, I also use my bike trailer. Otherwise there are companies specialized in moving stuff. Either on bikes, or they own the truck and deliver stuff to me. Or take it somewhere else.

I go camping with my bike in national parks. I pull my folding kayak with a trailer. All in fantasy land. I will never be an adult because I don't drive a car or own a house. I'm not even a real human. It's true that everything is made around cars and sometimes it's a pain to have to use or rent one, but most of my life can be done without it. We are millions like this. Just not being real enough for you.

And of course, the goal is to force you cycling everywhere and get rid of your precious F150, and not just motivate a few more people on kids bikes or into shitty public transit so you and your precious real life can have more space on the roads.

[–] Adderbox76@lemmy.ca -4 points 3 days ago (2 children)

I don't drive an F-150. I drive a quarter-tonne specifically because I wanted to balance my need for a truck while lessening the impact as much as possible. That's called "working within the construct of reality" because as a homeowner, I need to make those kinds of decisions.

[–] theacharnian@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

You're being silly with your constant assertion of how many hard decisions you have to make. I'm a homeowner too. Big boy, I pay four different types of taxes and all that. I own a car too. But I also own an electric cargo bike. I also take transit and use my non electric bike and my feet. Most of my groceries come home on foot or by (gasp!) delivery. The real world is not a world where you need to be driving fucking everywhere. In fact, it's a world where you should only be driving if there is really no better alternative -- and you should be voting in local governments that create such alternatives for more and more areas of our lives. Because the responsible adult grown up big boy thing to do is to do as a citizen everything you can to reduce car dependency to as close to zero as we can as a society.

[–] pedz@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 days ago

Have fun with your real life in real reality because of your obviously right choices. Here's a view from the side of fantasy land, where others made different choices, and are apparently not serious, and not real adults for this.

[–] PeriodicallyPedantic@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

So confidently wrong

Apparently none of Europe does actually "adult things" since almost none of them own trucks 🙄

The application of a couple minutes of thought, or researching what people outside your bubble live like, could have saved you so much embarrassment

[–] Nouveau_Burnswick@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago

We have a car, the ebike means we don't need two cars.

And I do my groceries on foot, strollers hold a lot, and if tiny is amenable, we stop for grocery beers at the pub in the same strip mall.

Reno's I use the car for medium loads, delivery for large loads, bike for the 38 trips for "the one thing" I forgot.

The recycling truck takes my recycling, so I'm not sure about that one?

[–] Snowpix@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 days ago

You've clearly never seen the Dutch. They have absolutely no problem doing grocery shopping and other "real adult" activities with bicycles. As it turns out, cargo bikes exist, and they're perfectly suited to that purpose.

If you're gonna be condescending, maybe research a little first.

[–] piccolo@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 days ago

Really shows such privilege you have. Meanwhile in Africa, they are hauling more shit on their bikes than most people with brodozers.

[–] Novamdomum@fedia.io 21 points 3 days ago

I low-key have a crush on Mélanie Joly.

[–] toastmeister@lemmy.ca 25 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Why shouldn't the poor subsidize the rich replacing their 3 year old Lexus with an electric sports car?

It's not like we could be funding mass transit and better housing density that actually supports mass transit with that money instead.

[–] pedz@lemmy.ca 10 points 3 days ago (1 children)

It's so ridiculous. I know it's a provincial matter but some suburbs around Montréal are trying to build TOD and they get threatened by the transit authority to have their train lines reduced or cut. Even if they are already not in function during evenings and weekends.

And VIA Rail trains have been extra late for a few months now, with no end in sight.

Plus, the coach industry is continuing to reduce and/or cut routes. Fifteen years ago I could go from Drummondville to Victoriaville, and be back the same day. Now there's three coaches a week. I once heard a guy in a train from Drummondville to Montréal, saying that he was visiting his brother in Victoriaville when he had to leave a day earlier and discovered there were simply no coaches leaving the city that day. He paid $80 for a taxi to get him to Drummondville so he could then take a train home.

As someone that tries to get around without a car, some days, all levels of governments make me wish I had one.

[–] KMAMURI@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago

I live in Nova Scotia. They just ripped out a bunch of train rails near me because people keep talking about funding train service again. It would be amazing for us living rural to be able to travel carless since we are so far from lots of things. I'm sure that's why the last tracks here are being pulled up now. The trucking companies that charge extra to come to our island just because it's an island and used to be more difficult to get to would be out of business. There is no reason since the 1960's but they continue to charge us for nothing. No tracks means no trains for sure.

[–] pedz@lemmy.ca 24 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Cars cars cars! Buy a car! Do you like your new car? You can go to places in your new car! Because you won't get there using public transit, and cycling will make you fear for your life.

Making sure Canadians can buy affordable e-bikes? Naaah. Buy a car! It's good for the economy! Everyone needs an affordable car! Cars cars cars!

[–] toastmeister@lemmy.ca 9 points 3 days ago (1 children)

*Slaps Highway. You can fit so many cars on this two lane 1960s highway.

[–] pedz@lemmy.ca 11 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

The region where I'm from is trying to re purpose an abandoned rail line into a rail trail. The project dates from 2012 (in French). All the bureaucracy involved makes the process take forever. Meanwhile the extension of a multi lane highway plowed through a wooded area, some farmland, required the construction of a bridge, is now completed.

Same for public transit always being cut, while highway extension is like the proverbial carrot on a stick for voters.

VIA Rail won't even take fucking bikes in the Corridor, yet! Going from Montreal to Drummondville with a bike involves paying $35 for the coach ticket, $15 for your bike, that must be in a box or a bag that they will sell you for $15 if you don't have one, and pay the same again to get back! Oh and there's two coaches per day, for your convenience. Also, even if you ditch the bike so you can take a train, it's going to be seriously late.

But if we're so worried about the environment and quality of life, instead of trying to get everywhere using public transit and/or a bike, maybe we should buy an electric car. That's a very good message from our "leaders".

[–] CircaV@lemmy.ca 13 points 3 days ago (2 children)

There should be an affordable EV model for 5K.

[–] isVeryLoud@lemmy.ca 8 points 2 days ago

Yeah it's called an electric bicycle

No but joking aside, we need something like the Twizy EV here.

[–] toastmeister@lemmy.ca 6 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

We just tariffed Chinese EV's to make sure they dont become a reality. We want to fight climate change, but not at the cost of the industries we are ploughing billions of tax payers dollars in to, as the US tariffs us.

[–] CircaV@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I lowkey want a BYD Dolphin.

[–] toastmeister@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 days ago

I just want a cheap hybrid. Its weird that if you go from a gas engine to a hybrid in Canada prices jump up 5k.