Both the United States and Canada will make full stop-sales of ICE vehicles mandatory by the middle of the next decade, but not everyone is on board.
According to the inaugural JD Power Canada Electric Vehicle Consideration (EVC) study, Canadians are less likely to buy electric cars than Americans. To gather data, JD Power surveyed 3,701 consumers between April-May 2022 to determine the likelihood of buying an electric car and found that overall, 59 percent of Americans would consider one, compared to 53 percent of Canadians.
The survey found that there are several reasons why Canadian consumers still do not embrace completely new technologies, one of the most obvious being cost. Electric vehicles are still a bit more expensive than the comparable ICE model, and 61 percent of Canadian consumers say it’s a barrier to a purchase compared to 44 percent of Americans. In addition, provincial-level incentives are not meaningful enough for people to switch, even if there is a federal incentive.
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The data further shows that the percentage of people varies considering electric vehicles depending on the geographical location. Consumers in British Columbia are 59 per cent more likely to buy EVs in Quebec, 50 per cent in Ontario and 47 per cent in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba Prairie. Atlantic Canadian provinces like Nova Scotia, PEI and New Brunswick have the lowest consideration at 35 percent.
This is understandable, since the places of highest consideration are also the most built-up and probably have better access to charging stations, while places like Prairie and Eastern Canada are still quite wide, with less opportunity to charge an EV.
It plays perfectly into the next hurdle for EV consideration: range concerns. Sixty-five percent of Canadians surveyed say range concerns are still a deterrent reason to consider electric cars compared to 44 percent of Americans. Forty percent of Canadians say they would not choose an electric car over petrol because Canada’s cold climate affects EV performance.
Finally, those who have no experience using electric cars are only 15 percent more likely to consider buying one, compared to 22 percent of those who were passengers and 42 percent of those who drove. Finally, forty-nine percent of people who previously owned an EV will consider getting another.
The annual study will be done to measure the consideration of EV buyers as we are approaching the age of complete electrification.
