The United States and Canada will both be mandating a complete stop-sale of ICE vehicles by the middle of the next decade, but not everybody is on board.
According to the inaugural J.D. Power Canada Electric Vehicle Consideration (EVC) Study, Canadians are less likely to buy an electric vehicle than Americans are. To collect the data, JD power surveyed 3,701 consumers between April-May 2022 to determine their likelihood of purchasing an electric vehicle, and found that overall, 59 percent of Americans would consider one, compared to 53 percent of Canadians.
The study found that there are a few reasons why consumers in Canada haven’t fully embraced the new technology yet, with the most obvious one being cost. Electric vehicles are still quite a bit more expensive than a comparative ICE model, and 61 percent of Canadian consumers said that this is a barrier to purchasing one compared to 44 percent of Americans. In addition, provincial-level incentives aren’t meaningful enough for people to make the switch, even if there is a federal incentive.
Read More: A Zero Emissions Vehicle In Canada Could Still Have A Tailpipe According To New 2035 Climate Plan
The data also shows that the percentage of people considering an electric vehicle changes depending on geographical location. Those likely to purchase EVs total 59 percent of consumers in British Columbia, 50 percent in Quebec, 47 percent in Ontario, and just 38 percent in the Prairie regions of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. Atlantic Canadian provinces such as Nova Scotia, PEI, and New Brunswick have the least consideration at 35 percent.
This makes sense, as the areas with the highest consideration are also the most built-up and likely have better access to charging stations, while places like the prairies and eastern Canada are still quite sprawling, with less opportunity to charge an EV.
That plays perfectly into the next barrier for EV consideration: range anxiety. Sixty-five percent of Canadians surveyed said that range anxiety is still a deterring factor for considering an electric vehicle, compared to 44 percent of Americans. Forty-four percent of Canadians say that they wouldn’t choose an electric vehicle over a gasoline one because the colder climate of Canada has an effect on EV performance.
Finally, those who have never experienced using an electric vehicle are just 15 percent likely to consider buying one, while that number is 22 percent in those that have been passengers in them, and jumps to 42 percent in those who have driven them. Finally, forty-nine percent of people who have owned an EV previously would consider getting another one.
The study will be done annually to gauge EV shopper consideration as we edge closer to the age of complete electrification.
