Report predicts EV industry annual growth rate of 28 percent over next ten years and a 14-fold increase in jobs as annual investment in sector is set to increase from $1.7 billion to $7 billion

If the electric vehicle sector continues to grow as projected, nearly half the vehicles sold in Canada in 2030 will be electric.

That’s the outlook according to a new report from Clean Energy Canada, in partnership with Navius Research. The study, “The Fast Lane: Tracking the Energy Revolution 2019,” lays out a road map of Canada’s clean energy future and its role in the economy.

For EVs, this future is sales growth and jobs.

The GDP of clean transport (primarily hybrid and electric vehicles) is expected to increase to $24.3 billion in 2030 from $14.8 billion in 2020

More clean jobs

“Over the next decade, Canada’s EV industry is expected to grow by 28% every year — paving the way for a cleaner future and more clean jobs,” said Merran Smith, executive director of Clean Energy Canada in a tweet.

On the employment front, the report projects that in 2030 there will be 559,400 jobs in Canada’s clean energy sector — up from slightly less than 300,000 today. Of those, the majority will be in clean transport — “jobs like manufacturing electric cars, buses, and trucks that are forecast to hit our roads in record numbers.”

Nonetheless, Canadians’ views on EVs remain divided, the report notes.

“One segment of the population prefers electric vehicles to such an extent that capital and energy costs are almost irrelevant,” the study says. “Another segment dislikes electric vehicles to such an extent that there are relatively few circumstances in which they will be willing to purchase such a vehicle.”

Improved performance

However, the gross domestic product, or GDP, of clean transport (primarily hybrid and electric vehicles) is expected to increase to $24.3 billion in 2030 from $14.8 billion in 2020. In total, 48 per cent of cars sold in 2030 are expected to be EVs. According to the study, part the reason for this surge will be “improved performance and falling cost of batteries,” as well as zero-emission mandates in British Columbia and Quebec and the federal vehicle emissions standards.

With this projected success comes a margin of error. For EVs, this error could be connected to cost, as well as changes in provincial and federal government policies.

“The growth of the clean energy economy depends on many developments that are ultimately uncertain,” says the report, including ”decisions we make as a country.”

For the study authors, the choice is clear: “We need to choose the fast lane.”