OUR OPEN LETTER TO BC PREMIER EBY
The Honorable David Eby
Premier of British Columbia
PO Box 9060 Stn Prov Govt
Victoria, BC V8W 9E2
22 January 2026
Greetings Premier,
My name is Glenn Garry, and I am the President of the Victoria Electric Vehicle Association (VicEVA) one of
an association of 12 electric vehicle owner groups across the province representing the over 220,000 families enjoying the many benefits of life with an Electric Vehicle (EV) as well as making our neighbourhoods cleaner places to live.
Today, I’m writing in support of the Good Public Policy brought forward by the government of BC in the
CleanBC Act in general, and the BC ZEV Act regulations (ZEVA) in particular. The well researched,
formulated, and promulgated series of regulations under these standards have made BC a respected leader ein clean transportation. This is a letter of encouragement to stay the course of the ZEVA for several reasons:
-Transportation remains the largest single source of emissions by sector in BC and the 220,000 EVs
in the Province do NOT emit the 726,000 tonnes of toxins/GHGs annually that their ICE equivalents
DO- expand that to the roughly three million vehicles in the province means an EV fleet removes
9,900,000 tonnes of emission liabilities;
– Affordability for citizens is key, and on an apples-to-apples vehicle comparison EVs have a
significantly lower total cost of ownership (TCO) than their ICE counterparts. That means over the
average kilometers driven each year at $1.70/L compared to BC Hydro prices per Kwh the EV owner
will be left with close to $2000 ($2250 including oil changes) in their pockets to spend in the BC
economy, rather than sending 90% of those funds out of province- that’s over $6 billion dollars kept in
our economy;
-The impacts on human health, and our healthcare budget of the ICE status quo are significant (as
I’m sure you know all too well) – each year around 1900 British Columbians have early deaths due to
air pollutants. The Canadia Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE) calculated a few
years ago that each EV represented over $10,000 in avoided health costs to the population, which
considering the historic total spent in EV incentives by BC comes to just $3300 per vehicle, is a
savings of over $1.3 billion from our current EV fleet;
– Climatic impacts here in BC due the continued burning of fossil fuels include the June 2021 Lytton
fire (two deaths and over $100 million in damages); the 2021 Heat Dome event (over 600 deaths of
mainly vulnerable citizens and cost estimates of $5 Billion); the November 2021 Atmospheric River
event (costs between $11-$17 billion), and the increase of wildfire smoke every year since 2007;
-The organizations making a great deal of unsubstantiated noise in the Media (NCDA/CVMA/GAC/EFI, etc.) are the same ones who, six years ago, said BC would never make the10% EV sales by 2025. As the record shows, they were badly mistaken, and only their active neglect to their commitments can hinder further progress. The auto industry is currently emboldened to backtrack on their commitments by the rhetoric of the fossil fuel industry reflected in President Trump’s regressive policies toward clean technologies and EVs.
– Mr. Trump has explicitly demanded the elimination of Canadian EV standards with the intent that we
join the US in their toxic technological backwater and rely on legacy ICE and inferior hybrid
technologies built for a world ten years in our rearview mirror; and,
– Watering down the scope and regulatory schedule of the ZEVA will only reward laggard auto
companies and penalize those making the vehicles we need; discourage the growth in the businesses
rising to support EV uptake; ensure more polluting vehicles remain on our roads longer, and continue
to negatively impact human health and budgets while making British Columbians pay evermore over
the life of the vehicles they drive.
In summation, the ZEVA has produced the most successful plank in the entire CleanBC policy platform (as
confirmed in the recent CleanBC Review) with Good Public Policy aimed at supporting citizen health, and
affordability while producing measurable climate emission reductions. This fact needs to be publicised as a counter to the fear, uncertainty, and doubt being sown by the vested interests featured in the Media. In
discussions with them, perhaps an accounting of their perfidy is in order.
The team within MECS/Clean Transportation Branch of the Energy and Climate Solutions Ministry has
provided a huge Win for the BC government- the public needs to be made aware of that fact. So, if I may
offer some advice, not only must one do good, but one also must be seen (and heard) to do good.
Remember what a great Canadian once said- “Courage my friends, ‘tis not too late to build a better world.”
In that spirit I may be reached by yourself at any time if I may be of assistance.
The attached Annex A includes recommended policy options to further BC’s goals.
About VicEVA:
VicEVA is a non-profit organization under the BC Societies Act that works pro-bono to
represent the citizen-owner and promote electric vehicles in all forms. We are vehicle brand (and politically) agnostic in our approach in advocating EV uptake by the citizens of BC and effective, citizen centric, policy by those entrusted to govern. VicEVA has faithfully submitted recommendations to policy makers eight times in the last seven years as well as being a signatory to a series of EV centric policy recommendations to all political parties/candidates prior to the last two provincial elections (your staff should be able source these for you).
Respectfully, in Service to our Province…
Glenn Garry
President
Victoria Electric Vehicle Association
