Tesla, Volvo, BMW all join in: Is this finally the dawn of the electric car era?

The very first Tesla Model 3, the electric car maker's much-hyped, long awaited mass-market vehicle, rolls off the assembly line today capping what might one day prove to be a monumental week in the evolution of the electric vehicle.

"We believe with everything happening that it's no longer an 'if' it's a 'when,'" saysCara Clairman,
president and CEO of Plug'n Drive, a non-profit electric vehicle (EV) advocacy organisation.

"[It's] not the death of the internal combustion engine but certainly we'll see an overwhelming move to electric vehicles over time and it's just a matter of how long that takes."

That timeline appears to be accelerating.

In addition tothe first Tesla Model 3 hitting the road, Volvo this week announced all of its car models launchedafter 2019 will either be electric or hybrid. It'sthe first major traditionalautomaker to set a date for phasing out vehicles powered solelyby the internal combustion engine.

"We launched our new XC90 two years ago and 20 per cent one of every five XC90s we delivered over the last year and a half were plug-in hybrids," says AlexanderLvovich, Managing Director of Volvo Car Canada. "So based on our own experience, our consumers, they embraced the technology."

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Earlier this week, France went even further announcing it will end the sale of gasoline and diesel powered vehicles by 2040 in a bidto becomecarbon neutralby 2050.

BMW also has plans to electrify each and every one of its makes and models by 2020, whileVolkswagen says it willspend $2 billionin the United States onelectric vehicle infrastructurewhich includes the installation of more than 500 charging stations across America.

The question is: Does all of this finally mark a tipping point in the adoption of the electric car?

You can count Canadian Tesla Model 3 buyersamong those who answer: Yes.

"What we're seeing now is every major vehicle manufacturer has an electrification program well underway and I truly believe it's all because of Tesla's [leadership]," saysJohn Dixon, president of the Tesla Owners Club of Ontario.

Dixon, who claims he was one of the first people to own a Tesla in Canada back in 2012,owns a Model X and has two Model 3s on order.

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"Don't ask me what I'm doing with them, they'll be a second car in my family or for an employee or my son or something," he says.

He's able to do that in part because of Tesla's entry-level price.

Official prices haven't been released but Tesla says the Model 3 will cost about $35,000 US. On a straight conversion basis, that works out to roughly $45,000 Cnd,but with government rebates Ontario offers up to $14,000 the cost will be much less.

"When you factor in the gasoline savings and now the rebates from the Ontario government it makes the car very, very affordable," Dixon says.

Tesla says the Model 3 willbe able to drive as far as 345 kilometres on a single charge, a much longer range than most electric vehicles, particularly in its price range.

Model 3 a game changer?

Boosters call it a game changer for the electric car segment.

"I do believe that this is really an iPhone moment for the EV industry as a whole," says Trevor Page, wholined up at one of Tesla's Toronto stores at 4 a.m. to sign up for a Model 3 the day the waiting list opened.

"It's not the first long-range mass market EV available that's the Chevy Bolt however the Tesla [Model 3] represents a vehicle that is much more compelling because of technologies like Autopilot," says Page. "[There are] more options like a larger battery pack, better aerodynamics, [and] there's a sexiness factor with the vehicle."

He's still waiting to buy his first Tesla despitehaving founded the Tesla Model 3 Owners club, an online forum for fans of the vehicle.

According to FleetCarma, a clean techcompany based in Waterloo, Ont., there were a record-setting total of 11,000 electric vehicles sold in Canada last year. That's up 56 per cent from2015. But that still only brings the total number of EVs in this country to just 30,000. While growing fast, EVs are still a tiny fraction of the cars on the road considering there werenearly twomillion vehiclessold in Canada in 2016.

And not everyone is buying the idea thatdevelopments this week area landmark moment for the EV industry.

"There are a number of [automakers] coming out with all electric cars," says Kenneth Elias, an analyst with Connecticut-based Maryann Keller and Associates, an automotive strategy consulting service.

"I'm not convinced it's as big a deal for the U.S. market as it is may be elsewhere where gasoline could be more expensive or less available."

Elias says most Volvo customers buying a new vehicle after 2019 will probably buy a mild hybrid a carwhere the gas engine is assisted by a small electric motor. It's a system thatis more fuel efficient than gas alone but not as clean as a plug-in hybrid or an all electric vehicle.

He says Volvo's decision was made with an eye towards China, Volvo's biggest market and among the fastest growing markets for electric vehicles in the world. Bloomberg reports Chinese consumers bought more than 300,000 EVs last year, and more than five million are expected to be on the road by 2020.

Is electric really cleaner?

China has been criticised for its coal-fired power plants and lax environmental laws, leading some to suggest switching to electric powered vehicles is simplyexchangingone form of pollution for another.

But Clairmanbelieveselectric vehicles are still cleaner than the alternative.

"Even with coal-based electricity, the efficiency of a big coal plant is always better than the efficiency of an [internal combustion]car engine." she says.

Clairman says there are still a few barriers to widespread adoption of EVs including people fearful of being unable to charge up on longer trips away from urban centres.

"For the longer trips we do need more DC chargers on the highway. Ontario, Quebec, and BC are all making great strides on that, we've got to fill in, but it's getting easier and easier."

With files from Reuters