A family in Metro Vancouver could save nearly $800 a month if it were to swap out its gas-powered car and heating for their electric equivalent, a new study has found.
Published Wednesday, the report from Clean Energy Canada found the average Metro Vancouver detached home would save $777 per month if residents electrified their houses and cars. The calculations include the full cost of equipment and operation.
“Affordability and the cost of living is and has been for a couple of years now a concern for Canadians, and especially young Canadians,” said Trevor Melanson, one of the report’s authors.
“And we know that you actually save money by adopting clean energy solutions.”
Government incentives swing wildly from province to province. In Vancouver, a median-income family has access to $4,000 in electric vehicle rebates and $12,000 to swap a gas furnace for a heat pump. In Toronto, where a single-family home's monthly savings from electrification were calculated at $555, none of those provincial government supports are available.
The report comes with an online guide to help Canadians in every province navigate a maze of provincial and federal incentive programs. It also helps people prioritize what will save them the most money.
Barriers to electrification increasing in some areas
A Metro Vancouver family's $777 in monthly savings assumes a household living in a single-detached home is replacing a gas-powered SUV and Ford F-150; a gas-powered furnace and hot water heater; and a gas stove.
British Columbians living in a gas-heated townhouse with two gas-powered vehicles could save just under $600 a month, the report found. Meanwhile, someone in a condo with one gas-powered car could save $286 a month if they made a similar switch to electric.
The report comes shortly after the federal government ended its Greener Homes Grant, a program that offered residents up to $5,000 off the price of a heat pump or other household energy savings measures.
Clean Energy Canada points to a changing electric vehicle market in Canada, including the 2024 Nissan Leaf becoming more expensive, and the pause or discontinuation of the Chevrolet Bolt and the Kia Soul that has left what they described as a “gap in the market.”
Compared to Europe, where 12 electric vehicle models are offered below $45,000, in Canada only three such cars are for sale.
“The bad news story is the barrier to energy has gotten a little bit higher in 2024,” Melanson said.
Even with those added barriers, the report says switching to an electric vehicle is the easiest way to save on energy bills. Selling a gas-powered Honda CR-V and buying an electric Volkswagen ID.4, for example, would save $3,000 a year over the life of the car.
“An electric vehicle is the biggest money-saver, bar none,” Melanson said.
Look to second-hand EVs, says report author
Melanson recommends looking in the used EV market, especially in B.C. where the province waives its provincial sales tax on the sale of second-hand electric vehicles.
Another accessible cost saver is switching a home to a smart thermostat so heating does not waste energy, he said.
“Of course, taking transit will save you a lot of money, especially versus driving a gas car,” said Melanson.
A research group within Simon Fraser University’s Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue, Clean Energy Canada has launched a website where anyone interested in electric alternatives can find a list of rebate and incentive programs.
The mycleanbill.ca website also breaks down potential cost savings depending on where and how you live, and what kind of changes you are ready to make.
