Stories & Features

Our EV Battle Royale includes many, but not all, EVs available in B.C.

If you waited until 2022 to start looking seriously at buying an electric car, your patience has been rewarded. It's a special year, and we feel the need to celebrate it with something we're calling our EV Battle Royale.

We've carefully selected 32 EVs that are available, or soon to be available, in B.C. and matching them up in a bracket-style competition. Each week you'll have a chance to vote for your favourites until we narrow it down to just one winner that we'll crown B.C.'s favourite EV.

With so many different EVs available, narrowing the list to just 32 was a challenge. The emphasis is on fun, so we erred on the side of variety and spice over listing only the most popular or widely available EVs on the market. That means quite a few available EVs haven't been included.

Have a favourite that's not on the list? Share it with us on Twitter using the hashtag #EVBattleRoyle.

Vote in our EV Battle Royale and enter to win some great prizes.

Things to know about EVs available (or soon available) in B.C.

Not every vehicle we included in the EV Battle Royale, or the EVs mentioned below, is available today in B.C. But most will be available sometime in 2022, so let's take a look at some of the exciting new vehicles and trends in the mix.

The trucks are coming! The trucks are coming!

You might call 2022 the Year of The Electric Truck. In fact, the popularity of trucks, vans, and SUVs has prompted the federal government to add a new rebate category to its EV incentives program. While the cutoff for most EVs is now a base retail price of $55,000, the eligibility maximum for the $5,000 rebate off the purchase of trucks, vans, and SUVs is $60,000.

Automakers clearly didn't wait around to see if the Ford F-150 Lightning would be a hit (which it already is). The sheer number of new brands, names, and looks for electric pickups is dizzying, with the likes of the Rivian R1T (the first electric pickup) and the Alpha Wolf in the mix, along with the Canoo Pickup, promised to be available in 2023.

Not just new EVs, but new brands, have joined the fun

Ever heard of a Lucid Air, a Toyota bZ4X, or a Genesis GV60? With so many new EVs emerging, it can be tough to keep up.

Lucid is a new entrant in the automotive world with an unabashed goal of creating loaded, luxury EVs. There are only two retail locations in Canada so far, but one is in Vancouver, where the likes of the Lucid Air sedan – and its up to 837 km of range – is on display. No rebate eligibility here. Lucid vehicles start at about $105,000.

Hyundai's up-market brand Genesis joins the plug-in brigade with the luxury mid-crossover GV60, built on the same platform as the KIA EV6 and the Hyundai Ioniq 5. While premium versions of those vehicles come in at about the $60,000 mark, the GV60 is likely to be priced at least $10,000 to $20,000 higher.

After sticking so long to its popular hybrid models, including the popular RAV4 hybrid, Toyota's new entrant in the fully electric world is the bZ4X. It appears to be an edgier take on the RAV4, and if it looks a lot like the new Subaru Solterra, that's no accident. The two vehicles were co-developed, and with prices starting at about $45,000, they're designed to be priced to compete with some similar-sized gas-powered SUVs. Even the fully-loaded bZ4X XLE, at $62,750 is still eligible for a rebate, which allows for the purchase of higher trims or options of up to $10,000 as long as the base model is priced under the rebate price cap.

It's not easy to get test drives, but there are options

The combination of demand for EVs in B.C., and supply chain issues exacerbated by a pandemic and a war in Europe, has created a real challenge. How do you test drive EVs to see what's best for you?

We did a little digging into test drive availability and, in addition to getting some advice from the New Car Dealers Association of B.C., we've come up with five other ways to test drive an EV, ranging from rentals and car shares, to friends who own EVs. You can read our EV test drive tips.