FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Repeal of EV Availability Standard without adequate tailpipe rules or charging measures puts billions in charging investment — and thousands of trades jobs — at risk – CCIC.

CCIC analysis shows a strong greenhouse gas standard could drive $21 billion in Canadian charging investment by 2035. Inadequate tailpipe regulations undercut past and future investment.

TORONTO, August 14, 2026 — The Canadian Charging Infrastructure Council (CCIC) today warned that the federal government’s repeal of the Electric Vehicle Availability Standard — without replacing it with adequate greenhouse gas tailpipe emissions regulations for light-duty vehicles — puts $21 billion in Canadian charging infrastructure investment at risk, along with the electrical and civil construction jobs that investment would create in every province and territory.

“This is a major jobs and investment concern,” said Travis Allan, President and CEO of the Canadian Charging Infrastructure Council. “Every charger installed in Canada is installed by Canadian electricians, Canadian contractors, and Canadian utility crews. Removing the demand signal does not just slow the transition — it takes work off the books of contractors in every riding in the country, and it does so quickly.”

CCIC’s July 2026 analysis, A Strong GHG Emissions Standard Will Drive $20+ Billion in Charging Infrastructure Investment, prepared by Sharabura EV Infrastructure Advisors, models what regulatory stringency means for shovels in the ground:

•     $21 billion in charging investment between 2026 and 2035 under a strong standard (59 grams CO2/mile by 2035, consistent with 75% ZEV sales by 2035 and 90% by 2040) — including $10 billion in public charging (DC fast charging and Level 2) and $11 billion in residential Level 2 charging across multi-family and single-family housing.
•     Between 50% and 65% of that investment flows to local skilled trades — electrical and civil — local suppliers, and utilities. This spending cannot be offshored. It is a nation-building project spread across communities in every province and territory.

Canada’s charging companies have built over 10,000 public fast charging stations. Charging companies, leading automakers with successful EVs, and utilities committed billions of dollars in capital in good faith against Canada’s stated objective of 75% electric vehicle sales by 2035 and 90% by 2040 and the prior EVAS. Repealing the standard without an adequate replacement and no concrete measures to keep charging investment flowing risks stranding those commitments and putting a freeze on further private investment into the sector.

“Industry did what governments asked. We built to a target that the government of Canada set and repeated,” said Allan. “If inadequate tailpipe regulations and the absence of support for the charging industry are not addressed quickly, Canada will lose investment and jobs that are, right now, still ours to keep. We are asking the government to move urgently and ambitiously on both stringent tailpipe emissions that deliver on Canada’s EV targets and financial incentives to support charging investment to get us there.”

The decision comes as the global market moves in the opposite direction. Electric vehicle sales in Europe rose 33% year-over-year in July 2026. Canada risks becoming a market that global automakers supply last.

The standard being repealed was also the mechanism that ensured Canadians could actually buy the low-cost electric models now reaching global markets. Clean Energy Canada found in April 2026 that a typical Canadian driver saves $23,000 to $32,000 over ten years by driving electric rather than gasoline. Without an availability requirement, those savings depend entirely on whether manufacturers choose to send those vehicles here.

CCIC is calling on the federal government to bring forward ambitious light-duty vehicle greenhouse gas regulations without delay, and to pair them with the investment certainty the charging sector needs to keep building.

About the Canadian Charging Infrastructure Council

The Canadian Charging Infrastructure Council (CCIC) is the national industry association representing Canada’s electric vehicle charging sector. Its members finance, build, own, and operate public and private charging infrastructure across the country.

Media contact

Travis J. Allan

President & CEO, Canadian Charging Infrastructure Council

ccic.ccir@gmail.com; 416-417-1195

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