Canada has just passed a law similar to the European rule, with the same deadline of 2035. On this date, only “zero emission” vehicles will be sold, but the interpretation of this qualification still needs to be clarified.
Plug-in hybrids at the heart of the debate
The zero-emission cars authorized after 2035 will be battery electric, fuel cell electric (hence “hydrogen”) and… plug-in hybrids. This is where things risk getting stuck, because if a plug-in is effectively zero emissions when it only uses its batteries and its electric motor, it is no longer so, far from it, once the batteries are empty. We can already imagine the heated debates on Canadian TV sets, which does not seem to have the magic formula any more than Europe.