I agree that the EV revolution is starting to pick up steam, however, a lot of the assumptions being made about future cost/affordability are predicated on a low cost per unit of power.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_...axes_in_Canada
While there are additional sources out there, this was the most convenient to post.
A couple of excerpts:
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Across Canada, motor fuel taxes can vary greatly between locales. On average, about one-third of the total price of gasoline at the pump is tax.
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Quote:
The Government of Canada collects about $5 billion per year in excise taxes on gasoline, diesel, and aviation fuel[8] as well as approximately $1.6 billion per year from GST revenues on gasoline and diesel (net of input tax credits). The Canada Revenue Agency, a part of the government, collects these taxes.
Collectively, the provincial governments collect approximately $8 billion per year from excise taxes on gasoline and diesel.
The federal taxes go into general coffers and help to fund a range of programs: $2 billion of the approximately $5 billion collected from federal excise taxes goes into the now permanent annual Gas Tax Fund for municipal infrastructure. Provincial tax revenues usually go to fund road repair and construction, and additionally in some provinces a portion of revenues (for example, 2 cents/litre in Ontario) is also distributed directly to municipalities
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While there are taxes on electricity (a quick search suggested only HST/GST), it appears that it will not come close to the same amount as gasoline.
As the ratio of EV's vs. ICE's increases, and gasoline demand decreases, there is going to be a revenue shortfall that will require a shift of gasoline taxes over to some sort of "charging station tax." Or more toll roads. The government will not give up a revenue stream willingly... it'll only shift.
Disclaimer: I am an Alberta Energy worker. So I always take a more critical/defensive view point on things like this. I think it was mentioned earlier that our economy will shift (or should shift) towards manufacturing of plastics and in my opinion carbon fibre. I think one of the more exciting things is the work that COSIA and xprize have done to find a use for Carbon Dioxide. We do not know in what shape or form the industry will exist in, but it will exist. I don't think 5 years ago, anyone would have been able to predict that we'd be able to extract oil from shale in a way that it was profitable sub-40$/bbl. It's constantly changing and will continue to evolve.
We (Canada - Alberta, BC, Sask./Arctic/NFLD) have a world class supply of natural gas, conventional oil and heavy sandy oil. It will not be the primary driver of our economy but it will still be important.