Welcome to SUV Nation, the world’s 5th dirtiest country

If the world’s fleet of SUVs got together and formed their own country – population 360 million – it would be the world’s fifth-largest emitter of carbon dioxide, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA), a Paris-based energy watchdog.

SUV Nation would grant passports to any gargantuan gas-guzzling 4 by 4, jacked-up hatchback and everything in between. There’d be parking lots as far as the eye could see. The flag would feature a tire track below the motto “Tread On Everything.” The national anthem? Obviously the Canyonero jingle from The Simpsons. (“She blinds everybody with her super-high beams / She’s a squirrel-crushing, deer-smacking, driving machine / Canyonero!-oh woah, Canyonero! Yah!”) Cyclists would be an endangered species.

“The shift towards ever larger and heavier cars” is the “defining automobile trend of the early 21st century,” the IEA said.

SUV Nation is an emissions superpower and it’s not going to disappear any time soon, so it needs to clean up its act. Battery power and reducing the size of these mammoths will be key to getting pollution from SUVs under control, but there’s a long road ahead.

Total combustion-related pollution from SUV Nation hit one billion tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2023. That’s 100 million tonnes more than in 2022, which puts SUV Nation’s emissions roughly on par with Japan and far exceeding Canada’s total, according to the IEA. Our collective hunger for these larger vehicles meant SUVs accounted for more than 20 per cent of the growth in worldwide energy-related emissions last year.

The reason they’re so dirty is obvious: SUVs are bigger and heavier than cars. As the IEA noted, SUVs weigh 200-300 kilograms more than an average medium-sized car and emit roughly 20 per cent more CO2. They’re a highly inefficient mode of transportation at a time when energy efficiency is crucial for meeting global climate targets.

But, obviously, efficiency isn’t everything as far as consumers are concerned. Far from it. There are reasons more and more drivers are choosing SUVs: They’re easier to get into and out of, especially for older people or parents loading children into car seats; they’re more capable in deep snow and on pothole-ridden roads; they usually have all-wheel drive; they’re spacious; and – right or wrong – they make drivers feel tough and safe behind the wheel. Car companies love SUVs too, because they’re more profitable than cars.

In Canada, where SUVs and pickups account for nearly 87 per cent of the new-car market – according to data from DesRosiers Automotive Consultants – it’s impossible to imagine drivers who’ve grown accustomed to larger and larger high-riding SUVs would suddenly embrace smaller, lower, more efficient cars for any reason, let alone reduced emissions.

As much as I and a handful of car enthusiasts would love to buy fast, fun and efficient little French hatchbacks like the all-electric Renault 5 and Alpine A290, or the cute Honda e, the beachy Fiat Topolino EV, the slick Microlino, or the $16,000 Nissan Sakura EV, the reality is those machines would struggle to find buyers in this country. (Small cars such as the Volkswagen Golf, BMW i3 and Smart ForTwo all died off because they didn’t sell.)

Downsizing to tiny, more energy- and space-efficient cars is sadly not a realistic mass-market solution for reducing vehicle emissions in North America, at least not in the near term, without regulatory intervention.

In other words, we’re not getting rid of SUV Nation any time soon. Cities can improve public transit, add bike lanes to get more people out of cars and out of gridlock, but in Canada there will be strong consumer demand for SUVs for the foreseeable future, and probably beyond. Short of a punishing weight-based registration fee or an outright ban on big, inefficient SUVs – which would be roughly as politically palatable as a prohibition on coffee – the only option is to clean up SUV Nation. Make SUVs electric and, if not European-small, then at least smaller.

Call it the missing middle of EVs; there’s a sweet spot, a type of vehicle that can accommodate a stroller in the trunk, but doesn’t tower over pedestrians or bulge out of a parking space. Smaller, lower, electric SUVs would also be more efficient, requiring smaller batteries and therefore making them more affordable.

Today, however, the EV market is overloaded with high-priced luxury models, such as the quad-motor Mercedes G-Wagon, the Range Rover EV, Lucid Gravity, Tesla Cybertruck, Cadillac Escalade iQ, Porsche Macan EV, the Volvo EX90, Maybach EQS SUV, Rivian R1S, and the list goes on. Luxury electric SUVs are a small-scale solution, and far from an energy-efficient one. (Lifecycle emissions from the wildly inefficient Hummer EV are on par with some gas-guzzling SUVs, according to a recent ranking.)

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If you’re shopping for a right-sized, long-range electric SUV under $60,000, there are only a handful of good options out there right now.

The coming 2024 Chevrolet Equinox EV – which starts at $48,199 and offers more than 500 kilometres of driving range – hits the sweet spot, at least on paper. The Hyundai Ioniq 5 fits the bill too, despite the fact its price keeps creeping higher in Canada. The smaller two-row Volkswagen ID. Buzz, a retro electric minivan, would be ideal except for the fact it’s not sold in Canada and is inexplicably expensive. (The U.K. price translates to about $86,000.) The Honda Prologue is unfortunately on the wrong side of $60,000. The Fisker Ocean and Pear SUVs could’ve been great; the latter was supposed to start at just US$29,900, but the upstart company already looks to be on the verge on bankruptcy. The entry-level Rivian R3 won’t hit the road until 2026 or 2027.

It’s slim pickings, for now. But, like the new federal housing policy pushing missing middle developments with the aim of making housing more affordable, so too should the new federal zero-emissions-vehicles sales mandate eventually result in greater numbers of more affordable, more competitive EVs.

Until then, SUV Nation will keep on guzzlin’.