Following the COVID-19 pandemic, governments around the globe will be massively investing in, and defining policies for, economic recovery. With all fossil fuel sectors in decline, what better time to make the transition to a green economy? And what better time for the federal government to develop an electric vehicle (EV) national strategy? Canada does have a significant electric vehicle sector, primarily lin Quebec, and the beginnings of an EV segment in the Ontario auto industry. The current Canadian EV sector covers the entire ecosystem, such as EV school buses, trucks, urban transit buses, powertrains, batteries and raw materials, and charging infrastructure. This is backed up by world-class research capabilities.

But the piecemeal, one project at-a-time approach doesn’t make any sense when we are up against 400 electric vehicle technology manufacturers in China. In Quebec, there are 147 EV firms, which collectively employ 6,000 people. Among the opportunities for Canada are legislative measures taken by China and the European Union, the largest and third- largest vehicle markets, requiring a transition to electric vehicles within a few years. And once global automakers bite the bullet, despite the years to amortize their investments for the most radical change in the industry in a century, the EV technologies wrapped in newly designed vehicle platforms will be available anywhere in the world. Traditionally, Canada has cloned U.S. initiatives to address vehicle fuel consumption. The rationale for this has been Canada is part of an integrated North American market. Yet, if there is anything we have learned from the COVID-19 crisis, it is that Canada must become more self-reliant. To be a part of this global EV transition, Canada must look east and west, rather than habitually south. The Canadian EV sector already has ties with China and Europe. Canada’s EV manufacturing sector

The electric passenger vehicle potential in Canada may lie with Ontario’s Magna International. Magna has entered a joint venture with China’s BAIC to take over Beijing Electric Vehicle Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of BAIC. The in-between Canadian EV manufacturers are the converters of fossil fuel-powered trucks. One converter is the Quebec startup Nordresa. The company had the potential to attract truck manufacturers with its turn-key solutions, but could not get any financial support from the Québec or federal governments. The result was that Nordresawas sold in August 2019 to the U.S. firm Dana.