“EVs are great, we all want to help the environment, but we need the government to do more than just say, ‘here’s the mandate, go do it,’” Steve Chipman, president of Winnipeg-based Birchwood Automotive Group, said during the Automotive News Canada Congress Feb. 16 in Toronto.
The panel, which focused on the industry’s EV readiness, also included Laura Zanchin, principal at Zanchin Automotive Group in Vaughan, Ont., Steve Milette, CEO at Nissan Canada and Don Romano, Hyundai Canada CEO. “When it comes to servicing, whenever there’s an issue, it feels like we’re doing something for the first time,” she said, citing an instance in which one of her stores had to replace an EV’s battery.
Both Nissan’s Milette and Hyundai’s Romano said they’re committed to helping their dealers gear up for the ZEV mandate. But they echoed their fellow panelists’ concerns about the unreliable state of charging infrastructure.