Tesla's launch of the Model 3 sedan has sparked worldwide interest in the affordable electric car.
As of April 12, approximately 325,000 people had put down a $1,000 deposit to pre-order one of the battery-electric vehicles, which are expected to hit the market in 2017. With an announced price tag of $35,000 U.S. the Model 3 is less than half the price of Tesla's luxury Model S sedan or Model X SUV.
But Tesla isn't the only automaker betting on the success of battery electric, plug-in hybrid and fuel cell vehicles.
"Ford is going to be the second-largest producer in North America of electric vehicles," Prince George Motors general manager Fred Nelson said. "They're launching 13 new models by the end of 2020."
By 2020, Ford plans to have 40 per cent of its vehicle models dedicated electric vehicles, or offered in an electric version, he added.
Ford, Nissan, Kia, Mitsubishi, Smart, Chevrolet and BMW already have battery electric vehicles available in Canada, and Ford, BWM and Chevrolet have plug-in hybrid offerings.
Toyota, Hyundai, Volvo, Audi, Porsche, Cadilliac and McLaren are also players in the plug-in hybrid markets. Hyundai has a hydrogen fuel cell version of the Tucson SUV available in limited parts of Canada, including Vancouver.
However, of the 1.9 million new vehicles sold in Canada last year, only 7,000 were electric vehicles, Prince George Motors sales manager Dexter Tabora said.
To stimulate interest in electric vehicles, in March Premier Christy Clark announced the extension of a $5,000 provincial rebate for battery electric vehicles and plug-in/extended range hybrids with a battery capacity of 15 kWh or more. Hybrids with batteries larger than 4 kWh, but smaller than 15 kWh are eligible for a $2,500 provincial rebate.
In addition, B.C.'s Scrap-It program is offering a $3,250 rebate for people who trade in an older gasoline or diesel vehicle for an electric vehicle. The rebate is available for vehicles made in 2000 or earlier.
But despite the incentives, Nelson and Tabora said electric vehicles and hybrids are still a tough sell in Prince George.
"We've sold a few hybrids - a few C-MAXs, a few Fusions," Nelson said. "They are smaller cars. Sixty per cent of our vehicle sales are in trucks and SUVs. We don't see the electric or hybrids in that size of vehicle yet."
A second major hurdle for those interested in battery electric vehicles is a lack of public charging stations in the city and in the smaller communities along Highways 16 and 97, he said. In places like the Lower Mainland, battery electric vehicles are more practical because the recharging infrastructure exists already to support them.
"If you live in Prince George and just want to drive downtown to work and back, one charge will last you," Tabora said.
However, plug in hybrids offer a gasoline-powered generator as a back up power source, giving them range comparable to conventional vehicles, he added. Prince George Motors has sold several to people who were planning to use them as their only or primary vehicle, he said.
"A lot of people come out (to look at hybrids) as a curiosity factor," Tabora said. "(But) it's not that popular, for the time being."
Surveys conducted by the the University of California Davis Institute of Transportation Studies and Carnegie Mellon University show that electric vehicle buyers tend to be tech-savvy, environmentally conscious, early adopters. Whether the new generation of electric vehicles and hybrids coming onto the market will win over mainstream consumers remains to be seen.
-- With files from Tom Krisher, The Associated Press
