To answer your first question in terms of the number of regulations that automakers deal with, it is a highly complicated regulatory environment. It's a miracle that vehicles roll off the line as quickly as they do when you look at a plant and you consider all of the layers of regulation, and it's not just emissions standards. Vehicle safety is absolutely critical. There are privacy and cyber concerns, and the list goes on and on, hence the reason it's so important to have an aligned and coherent regulatory environment to make sure that production and Canada's competitiveness are maintained.
When it comes to the ZEV mandate, it has potential to drive significant costs, not just from a regulatory environment perspective but also from a Canadian consumer perspective. The current price gap between an electric vehicle and a gas-powered vehicle is about $14,000 Canadian. That gap will close over time because manufacturers are investing so much, but we have other challenges on the supply side as demand increases. The current estimate is that we need 300 new mines globally for nickel, cobalt, lithium and graphite between now and 2035 to meet EV assembly targets—300 mines. I don't see a scenario where those 300 mines are operational within the timelines the government has projected.
What's the impact? The regulation proposed by Environment Canada says very specifically that low-income Canadians will disproportionately be affected by this. They will face higher costs for both gas-powered and EV vehicles and will have the hardest time charging their vehicles, because low-income Canadians in a higher proportion live in apartments and multi-unit residential buildings, where charging is very difficult to access.
These are real challenges that need to be addressed, and the current approach does not address them.