Canada Post’s newly-unveiled electric vehicle fleet to fight climate change may not be as effective as it sounds, according to an environmental policy expert.
As part of a long-term plan to electrify 14,000 delivery vehicles by 2040, 14 Canada Post battery-electric delivery vehicles hit the street of Nanaimo, B.C., this past month. In an attempt to reduce carbon emissions, Canada Post is replacing their current gas-powered vehicles with battery-powered “electric cargo vans.”
Jerome Gessaroli, a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, says that while there is “strong scientific evidence” to suggest that high carbon emissions contribute to climate change, whether electric vehicles (EVs) have any measurable effects in lowering carbon emissions is an answer that is “not completely straightforward.”
“You need to consider the carbon emissions of an EV over its lifecycle, from manufacturing through to its end of useful life. What the studies show is that an EV must be driven 10s of thousands of Kms before it will ‘break-even’ or make up for the emissions they produce during the manufacturing phase,” he said.
Gessaroli noted carbon emissions are lowered “depending upon how the electricity that powers EVs is generated.”
An EV that runs on electricity produced by hydroelectric, nuclear, or other non carbon-generating will lower overall emissions. An EV that uses electricity generated by a coal or oil plant might “make things worse.”
“Another factor is that it is more carbon-intensive to manufacture an electric vehicle than a gas combustion vehicle, mainly due to manufacturing batteries. So as newer EVs use larger batteries to extend their driving range, they become even more carbon-emitting during the manufacturing process,” he said.
Suromitra Sanatani, the Canada Post Chair for the Board of Directors, said in a March 9 press release that last year the “corporation set aside more than $1 billion to cut emissions and move forward on the electrification of its last mile fleet.” Gessaroli advises that companies should make decisions in EV investments depending on whether they are “financially the best alternative.”
“Generally speaking companies should choose the overall lowest cost of reducing carbon emissions after taking all important business and financial factors into account,” he said.
The academic noted that federal and provincial governments often provide subsidies to reduce emissions, but these are very expensive which can be unfair to lower-income people.
“The vast majority of EVs are purchased by higher income people because EVs are more expensive than gas cars. So, governments are redistributing taxes collected from everyone, including lower-income wage earners to higher-income people that are buying EVs. That is a very regressive government policy.”
There are other cost-effective, “bang for the buck” alternatives to cut back on CO2 and greenhouse gases Gessaroli suggests. He thinks that trying to reduce methane emissions– often produced in the natural gas sector– is a more worthwhile pursuit.
In an attempt to “avert the worst impacts of climate change,” the Government of Canada has advanced a net-zero emission future by 2050. Sanatani highlighted that Canada Post’s new initiative is in line with the government’s goal.
“Canadians expect their postal service to play a leading role in the country’s transition to a low-carbon future. It’s a responsibility that Canada Post embraces,” she said.
To help achieve their net-zero target, in 2022 the Government of Canada mandated that every passenger vehicle sold in Canada will need to be electric by 2035. By 2026, one-fifth of all passenger cars, SUVs and trucks sold will need to be electrically-powered.
Gessaroli says net-zero emissions by 2050 is “an aspirational goal rather than a practical goal.”
“If a true effort to meet that goal was undertaken, it would be very very expensive and force significant changes to how we live. I’m not convinced that is necessarily in the best interests of Canadians. The ultimate success of climate policy is dependent upon whether the largest emitters, such as China, India, and the United States can substantially reduce their emissions as well.”
