In Trois-Rivières, faced with the historic rise in the price of gasoline, a workshop specializing in the conversion of gasoline cars into electric cars is seeing its demand increase.

Key components such as the engine, battery and electronic management system are taken from damaged vehicles, declared as a total loss and installed on conventional vehicles. Given its cost of $65,000, this type of operation does not target passenger vehicles, but especially commercial delivery fleets.

“We collect all these parts and we add them to the ProMaster van to electrify it. That is more and more interesting, conversions, because electric and gasoline vehicles are harder and harder to find,” said Guillaume André of Ingenext.

Electric Mobility Canada regrets, however, that a transformation from second-hand components is not eligible for a subsidy from Quebec, unlike the purchase of a new electric vehicle or a transformation from new components. “Using these batteries which are still in excellent condition and which are still very good means that, in a principle of circular economy, we have to encourage that,” pointed out Daniel Breton of Electric Mobility Canada.