BCTA is pleased to announce that the Provincial government has expanded weight allowances for both electric heavy-duty and hydrogen co-combustion vehicles. This makes BC the first and only Canadian jurisdiction to offer a weight allowance incentive that supports the industry in making investments in clean technology upgrades.
The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure is offering a 1,500 kg allowance to electrically powered, and a 1,000 kg allowance to hydrogen-powered full-sized commercial vehicles. To further support broad adoption, the government will make increases to maximum gross combination vehicle weight, up to 65,000 kg and 64,500 kg respectively.
The weight allowances provided is in direct response of the Sustainability and Vehicle Standard Committee’s request, which can be found in our August 20, 2020 Bulletin Article, BCTA Seeks Weight Allowance for Electric & Bi-fuel Vehicles.
BCTA applauds the Provincial government for providing the weight allowances for electric and hydrogen fuel vehicles as it provides another tool in our toolbox to help reduce our sector’s GHG emissions.
Currently, medium and heavy-duty commercial vehicles are responsible for approximately 50 percent of GHG emissions from BC’s road transportation sector. These vehicles transport 92 percent of all consumer goods (by weight)[1] in the province. BC’s population has grown by approximately 580,000 people over the past decade. Due to population, coupled with a growth in e-commerce, emissions from heavy duty vehicles have increased by 27% from 2007 to 2018. Unfortunately, there are no simple solutions to reducing emissions from the commercial road transportation sector. Unlike passenger vehicles, which have many affordable, market-ready, zero and near-zero emission vehicle options to choose from, manufacturers of heavy-duty vehicles are in the very early stages of developing zero and near zero-emission options. Measures such as this weight allowance will help to accelerate their adoption.
For more information, the Provincial media release can be found here.
[1] Transport Canada, 2020, Transportation in Canada 2019: Statistical Addendum. Table EC4.
