Nova Scotia has become the latest province to start charging an extra fee for battery-powered cars and trucks.
As of Thursday, electric vehicle (EV) owners will pay $500 every two years in addition to their vehicle registration fee. Plug-in hybrid vehicles will have an additional $250 fee.
Some drivers call it an unfair cash grab, but the provincial government argues it’s a way to pay for road repairs since EV drivers don’t pay the provincial gas tax.
Halifax resident and Tesla owner, Karina Baxter, says it doesn’t add up.
“I do save a significant amount of money on this EV: no gas, no oil changes and things like that. But I still don’t think the math is mathing,” she said.
In February, when the changes were tabled as part of the budget, Premier Tim Houston told reporters the levy was necessary.
“EVs have a wear and tear element on our roads and highways … they’re generally a lot heavier, so they sometimes have quite a bit more wear and tear, and the owners of those vehicles should pay something towards that,” he said.
Baxter says she agrees to a certain extent.
“Yes, we do affect the roads maybe a little more because a lot of people will bring up the weight of these EVs. So I’m happy to pay for these taxes and these fees, I just think there’s a better way to do it.”
She points out drivers who pay for gas are essentially fueling up what they need and therefore paying for how much they drive.
Get daily National news
“With this, it’s a flat rate, which I don’t think is fair. They should track our kilometres or something like that, which makes it a little more fair, especially for those who don’t drive as much,” she said.
Local EV advocate, Kurt Sampson, says the number of EVs on the road is only increasing, so a solution needs further discussion.
“It would be nice to see a system that is standard and fair, equitable across all of Canada, really,” said Sampson, who is the EV expert with CAA Atlantic.
Other provinces have similar fees
Saskatchewan was the first province to make the move, and doubled its fee last year to $300 annually. Alberta charges $200 a year, and the Quebec government has said it will start charging $125 as of next year.
- Public safety takes centre stage in closely watched Kelowna election race
- Province-city relationship key point during Winnipeg mayoral debate
- Miller says government moving quickly but no timeline for new digital regulator
- Canada Post CEO touts ‘early signs’ of recovery even as financial woes persist
-
![]()
Alberta remaining in Canada, but other 9 referendum questions send message to Ottawa: Ipsos -
![]()
Ottawa warns Stelco owner of legal action amid layoffs -
![]()
Defence minister responds to reports CAF was advised not to conduct fire training at CFB Wainwright -
![]()
Canadian government takes some of its websites offline amid worldwide security breach
At the same time, the federal government has been incentivizing electric vehicle purchases by launching consumer rebates.
“This year showed about 34 per cent of Canadians said that they would consider an EV for their next purchase, and that’s up from about 28 per cent in 2025,” said J.D. Ney, the director and automotive practice lead for J.D. Power Canada, a data analytics company.
Down the road, more EVs will mean less gas in tanks and less money in government coffers.
“I think there’s a wide acknowledgement in the auto industry and beyond that … almost everyone eventually will be driving an electric vehicle of some type and gas tax is going to dry up,” said David Kennedy, Toronto bureau chief with Automotive News Canada.
“If you don’t have a gas tax that keeps your roads from completely deteriorating, you need some sort of alternative in the long term. And you know I think, at least as a short term stopgap solution, maybe (EV levies) is where we’ll go.”
But Baxter worries these types of levies and fees might discourage people from making the switch to an EV, which would knock the government off its zero-emission vehicle targets.
“There’s already some people that are apprehensive about EVs because they don’t really know that much about them, so this on top of that I think is just going to have a negative impact,” she said.
— with files from David Murdock and Heidi Petracek
…and EVs are dead. I don’t give one iota of concern for the rabid apocalyptic environmentalist sects.
They can all go straight to Hell.
Love it, if you were not naive then you are dumb
Once there is enough EV, goobye to the night time cheap rate for electricity.
@D Channon,
We don’t worry about the increased demand for electricity, because according to posters on the internet, the grid “can handle it”. Apparently we can also import more future EV owners and plug in as many as we like and the generators magically scale with it, at no extra cost! Isn’t that amazing? Who needs physics when we have forum experts from Ottawa and Montreal.
The truth is rising rates are on the way.
Stop drinking milk. Start burning ethanol.
“Saskatchewan was the first province to make the move, and doubled its fee last year to $300 annually. Alberta charges $200 a year, and the Quebec government has said it will start charging $125 as of next year.” And this whole post shows WHY QUEBEC IS A HAVE NOT PROVINCE. Because POLITICIANS in power KEEP IT THAT WAY so Alberta HAS TO hand over $15 BILLION this year in equalization payments to Quebec. This albertans WANT OUT OF PAYING for this program, ASAP.
It shouldn’t be a fixed rate, it should be a tax on electricity charged into an EV. Like the gas tax we pay for ICE cars. why should someone that doesn’t use their car pay the same as someone who does.
If you EVers don’t want to pay for road repairs, then don’t drive.
Ass, gas or grass…nobody rides for free…
D Channon,
I think high electricity rates ae party of the equation.
There are plans to build a mega wind power farm to supply export of “green hydrogen” to europe.
Not once was there ever mention about using any of the power generated to create a domestic supply of cheap clean electricity.
I think the reality is we are just cogs and wheels in the capital machine. It would be foolish to think that the powers that be have the best interest of the general public in mind.
Just a cash grab
One conversation that seems to be missed is where is all the extra electricity demand going to come from as there seems to be no plans on building extra capacity anywhere. There also seems to be a lot of missing infrastructure so that these EV’s can be charged.
So a small amount of Money seems to be fair to help keep our roads in somewhat good shape.
I fear that electrical rate will keep raising with the extra demands that all the EV’s will put into the grid especially in the winter months when the range of those vehicles is diminished due to the cold Canadian climate.
“The art of government consists in taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens and giving it to the other.” ( Voltaire 1694-1778)
Louis XIV’s Minister of Finance Colbert said “The art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to obtain the largest possible amount of feathers with the smallest possible amount of hissing” (In office
9 March 1661 – 6 September 1683)
“Put three politicians in a room and the outcome is five different opinions and a tax increase.”
Taxation has never changed over the centuries!
Alberta charges an annual $200 provincial registration tax for fully electric vehicles. That way they pay their share of road maintenance. Bicycle people don’t pay any share but complain the most.
Screw the roads, how about the bridges?
NS is effin crazy.
Got us all here justifying more taxes.
How about huston and his buddies get some proper public transit on the go. There’s still a fair bit of rail line we havent squandered yet.
“monorail, monorail, monorail…..”
That quote is as old as the need for it in ns. haha
But Nova Sscotians should love this.
The province is defined by government boot licking and obedience to all things control and nannying.
Having a hybrid is the best. You basically get 2 engines
The average two-car Canadian family pays approximately $1,100 to $1,200 per year in total gasoline taxes, so half of what EV drivers are being asked to pay. Perhaps we should drop all fuel taxes and just charge every registered vehicle the same a EVs, the highways would soon be a disaster.
It was only a matter of time before EV,s were charged some type of fee for the road use, these fees should be applied all across Canada.
Buy a hybrid that doesn’t require to be charged. Some of these hybrids are getting 49 miles plus to the gallon on the highway!!!!! This is what i will buy next.
If there’s one thing left that Canada is the best at, it’s figuring out how to take more money from it’s citizens.
Zero emission targets are a massive failure. Ask Carney as he seeks to expand the oil sands.
With fuel tax being about 50 cent per litre, that is somewhere between $30 and $70 ish of tax per fill up at the pump, depending on your vehicle. a tank a week would put you at $1600-$3600 annually.
EV drivers should be getting on their knees, or pony up their fair share.
Considering how much tax revenue is generated from a litre of gas/diesel, the levies on EV should likely be much higher.
Im poor, drive a 09 honda civic. bought and paid for. Could i afford an EV. No. I will continue to get taxed to oblivion on fuel.
Sounds like the affluent doesnt want to pay their fair share. Surprise, surprise.
And there it is….soon EV drivers will be demanding to be monitored by their government and insurance companies so they can pay per use and get a discount on yearly fees. Which falls right into more control for Bigger government…..keeping baying sheep!
*Coal powered
i’ll take the “Liberal” stance.
We must tax these cial powered vehicles.
pay it up chumps. i live in AB, your little EV scam is not flying here. enjoy your weak liberal and ndp lives.
The cost of maintaining the roads needs to be shared. Considering Alberta just started a tax holiday, it works out to .13C per liter. pr $13 per tank. A tank every 2 weeks adds up to $338 Add the federal tax that is missing, and it about doubles. So $500 every 2 years is not realistic. It should be more. And for those thinking that EV would save them money…. wake up! The electricity is not as cheap or as non-polluting as they say, and the extra fees for tires and the road tax and charging problems make it so that David Kennedy is out of touch with reality.
Why not pay a fee for the air you breathe? It’s new NORMAL
Quick weight comparison of similar sized vehicles: Tesla model 3 to a gas powered VW Jetta sedan – Tesla is roughly 800 to 1,000 pounds heavier.
Tesla Cybertruck is about 6,669 pounds, while Dodge RAM 1500 is about 4,836.
EVs are therefore much heavier due to the heavy structural battery packs.
It causes heavy “wear” to the standard road surface.
The excuse of not driving much is weird because, from what I’ve heard from EV owners, they buy them so they can drive a lot for cheap (cheaper than gas powered vehicles).
The fees are justified.
Why would you not have to pay a fee when you use the roads? It seems to be fair.
I would like to see a breakdown of road repair and building costs that shows 100 series hwy vs secondary hwy. It seems that trucking industry should pay for a greater portion of the larger hwy costs.
OMG. EV driver wants her mileage tracked by the government do she can avoid a flat rate? The libs just love their big government daddy, don’t they?