Photo: Darren Berg

As British Columbia moves towards meeting aggressive greenhouse gas emission targets, turns out even if you want to go green you might have a hard time.

Clean Energy Canada has released a report indicating that less than half of B.C.'s car dealerships have electric cars available for purchase.

The study indicates that in spite of a growing number of British Columbians who want to own an electric vehicle, finding one on a dealers lot is a different story.

This summer, Clean Energy Canada called all 322 dealerships in B.C. that qualify for the province’s EV rebate program and found that only 40% of them have electric cars on their lots available to purchase.

Here in the Interior, just 27 per cent of car dealerships have electric cars.

In the Lower Mainland, 54 per cent of car dealership have electric cars, although buyers had to wait between a few months and a whole year in order to get their hands on one.

On Vancouver Island and along the Sunshine Coast, 43 per cent of dealerships have electric cars.

In the north that number drops to just seven per cent.

“No one wants to wait a year to get an electric car—often without the option of even test-driving it first. Maybe that person waits, maybe they get a gas-fuelled car instead. At a time when we need to do more than ever to cut pollution and enhance affordability in this province, it’s an unacceptable situation for British Columbians who want to go electric.”—Dan Woynillowicz, Policy Director, Clean Energy Canada

The B.C. government is currently considering a policy that would require automakers to sell more electric cars in the province—like they have in California and Quebec.

With gas prices in B.C. in record high territory more and more British Columbians are looking for alternatives like electric vehicles.

Merran Smith, Executive Director, Clean Energy Canada tells Castanet, “British Columbians are excited about electric cars—and so were many of the salespeople we spoke to. This is about choice. It’s about cutting both fuel bills and carbon pollution. Fortunately, our provincial government can solve this with a proven solution.”