Just a few days ago, GM Authority reported that EV consideration in the United States dropped from 2023 to 2024, largely due to concerns regarding affordability and range. In the same vein, electric vehicle consideration in Canada appears to have fallen from the year prior.
According to a study from J.D. Power, 11 percent of Canadian new-vehicle shoppers claimed that they were “very likely” to consider an electric vehicle for their next purchase, down three percentage points from 2023. As was the case with U.S. consumers, the factors behind this decline were limited range, higher prices, and a lack of charging infrastructure.
“Auto manufacturers are staking their futures on EVs and investing massive sums in battery manufacturing facilities in Canada, but the reality is that they are still considerably more expensive than comparable gas-powered vehicles, and more education is needed to help shoppers feel comfortable making the transition,” J.D. Power Canada Automotive Practice Director J.D. Ney remarked in a prepared statement. “While tackling the affordability problem is going to take some time, the other big obstacles right now – vehicle range and lack of experience with EVs – can be mitigated by broad consumer education. However, about half of shoppers in Canada still have never been in an EV, which limits purchase consideration.”
Additional findings of the study included:
- EV consideration declined for a second consecutive year
- 72 percent of shoppers stated that they were either “very unlikely” or “somewhat unlikely” to consider an electric vehicle as their next car purchase. For comparison’s sake, 58 percent of U.S. consumers answered either “very likely” or “somewhat likely”.
- Range anxiety, purchase price, and charging infrastructure remain roadblocks
- Among those who stated they wouldn’t consider an electric vehicle, limited driving distance per charge was the most frequently cited obstacle to consideration (68 percent), along with purchase price (61 percent) and lack of charging station availability (60 percent).
- Half of consumers have never ridden in an electric vehicle
- 52 percent of vehicle shoppers claimed to have never been in an electric vehicle. Of those in Canada who have rented, borrowed, or test-driven an electric vehicle before, 36 percent were “somewhat likely” or “very likely” to consider purchasing such a vehicle.
- Provinces offering incentives show the highest consideration rates
- 40 percent of shoppers in Quebec indicated an interest in electric vehicle ownership, followed by 33 percent in British Columbia.
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Comments
Much of Canada is very cold in the winter, which could affect both range and purchase decisions.
An confirm. I have friends that were all horned up for EVs 3-5 years ago based on all the lofty, surface level, promises that were being thrown in our faces. Well the dust has settled, reality has set in, and not a single person wants an EV unless it is very much a third family vehicle. Or in other words, unneeded and for high income earners.
HEV are the hot ticket, or tax incentive PHEVs when they are in stock (very high demand) and when tax incentives apply
WoW the oil companies are here today making comments again. The oil companies wants every single person to say on oil. One the dust settled is creating, generating, and distributing fake falsehoods about EV cars in a massive billion dollar add campaign.
Which colour of kool-aid is your favourite? Electric yellow? Or is that just the wizz rained down from the EV-angelicals? Hybrids are the eco solution and control price proposition narrative.
And the Chi nese mine owners don’t???? FYI, i prefer big oil to Chin ese mine owners any day. At least one doesn’t commit gen eocide and fund te rrorism
LOL, what? Do you realize who is pushing the EV and green agenda and all the plans they would have for us?
Not surprising, it is all about price. EV’s are just not price competitive, even with a 7500 gimme. I’m sure the EV crowd will come back with but no gas cost…, but reality is if it is 10K more for the EV, and interest rates are 5%, that is 500/yr of gas you get for free. And that is assuming you have the 10K you don’t need to finance. If you are financing, it is more like 7% or 700/yr in free gas. Add in faster depreciation rates on the EV, and we are back to cost. First adopters tend not to look at cost as much as the mass adopter does. And as one more cost consideration, juice ain’t free either. And some of the charging stations I think are around 40c/KWh. Ouch.
I can buy a Bolt for 10$/week less than I spend on gas for my 45mile round trip to work-but the insurance, home charging, hit to home owners ins, and the fact that I may move 900 miles next year mean it is impractical.
Get a prius. 57mpg. So less than a gallon a day of gas. At 3/gallon, that is 15/week. So you are telling me you can get a bolt for 5/week or 20 a month? Yeah, I’d get the bolt if you can. Call me a skeptic, but I think a bolt is more than 20/mo.
The Tesla model Y and 3 are very competitive with comparable ICE vehicles but range, charging, performance in cold weather and overall not knowing much about them has still prevented them from going mainstream. Tesla also needs a lot more models if they want to continue to grow.
I am not anti ICE. I think there’s a place for both ICE and electric at this time and there will be for a long time to come. However, at this time, I would feel uncomfortable owning an electric vehicle if I only had one vehicle.
No they are not. They are more expensive than comparable models such as a civic or kia soul(21k). tesla’s are not lux cars, they are strippers. Another issue I just read was miners (copper in particular) do not expect to have mines in operation that would satisfy demand for an all EV fleet by the target 2030. I actually own some BHP stock and you can see that they don’t have the mines projected. Mining (like oil) requires years to get things to production, and much like oil, disasters happen. An example is the Brazil Mariana dam collapse. Both BHP and Vale were responsible from mining ops.
well i live north east of toronto , have a friend near london so about 5hrs away, he has a genesis gv70 electric, he loves it , but the problem is charging , after leaving my place he stayed in oshawa, that eve a saturday he decided to get his car charged at Canadian Tire so it would be charged for nxt day to get past toronto. then it happened, after having prepaid card, charger didnt work after 30 mins , he called company waited another 30 mins they told him all 4 chargers were down for maintenance,nothing said so , the next charging PUBLIC charging station was at OWASCO rv dealer 15mins away. he got there at 7:30 pm tried charging to 35 % thought he had enough so when to leave when he found gates locked and he couldnt get out , nowhere did it say hours and he could see a man in building after another hour trying to figure what to do there security alarm went off , speaker said he was trespassing and security and police had been alerted, another 30 mins security arrived, he got out , so how would i ever buy an electric car with horror stories like this
“Auto manufacturers are staking their futures on EVs and investing massive sums in battery manufacturing facilities in Canada” Wrong, Canadian taxpayers are paying massive sums for battery manufacturing.
LOL, who is surprised?
With the colder conditions of course not
It’s ICE vs EVil.
and more education is needed to help shoppers feel comfortable making the transition,” J.D. Power Canada
Consumers are showing they are educated…
Build them both keep the machine going . Love my classic ice leave it alone.We don’t need a EV Ice War. Cars are for our pleasure.Enviromentally we have come along ways , follow the science. People wake up