I cried myself to sleep last night at the plight of the new one percenters – electric vehicle owners. The Province has a big story today with the New Car Dealers pleading for more $5,000-$8,500 subsidies for electric vehicle buyers. This comes on top of the millions in free electric chargers built by taxpayers. (B.C. has 1,400 electric vehicles on the road and 550 charging stations.)

From the Province:

Less encouraging is falling consumer demand after the March 2014 cancellation of the government’s $5,000 incentive, offered to 950 EV purchasers.

B.C. was one of the first jurisdictions to subsidize the EV market with rebates and became Canada’s percapita leader in purchases. Ontario and Quebec ($8,500 rebate) and the U.S. federal government ($7,500 tax rebate) soon followed B.C.’s lead.

In September, Matthew Klippenstein, a professional engineer from Burnaby, published a study on the impact of B.C.’s cancelled EV incentive, using five months of data. “Despite the government’s incentive program expiring early this year, plug-in electric car sales have risen slightly in the province this year,” Klippenstein said.

And here’s the kicker – buried waaaaaaaaay at the end of the story:

UBC researcher Sumeet Gulati studied the rebate and concluded that it mainly benefited higher income consumers who would have bought cutting edge high-tech cars regardless.

Gulati makes the point that these subsidies are going to people who could afford to pay for their own darn cars. Think about it for a moment: the proverbial single mom taking the bus and working two jobs is paying taxes for wealthy folks to buy electric cars – and charge them at the local community centre. Does that seem like a good use of your tax dollars?