Hybrid electric vehicles might just be the “gateway drug” of the EV revolution, said an industry analyst.
Speaking at the Automotive Aftermarket Retailers of Ontario 2025 Symposium, James Carter of Vision Mobility explained how these technologies are changing both the market and customer habits, noting that getting the mass population to buy into an EV was overambitious. But get them into a hybrid and that may be the stepping stone needed to drive EV adoption.
“People who own hybrids, almost definitely their next step is either another hybrid or an EV,” he said. “Electrons are what I call a gateway drug. You get into hybrid then you’re getting into EV after.”
Because it’s rare that an EV owner will go back to combustion. The Canadian Automobile Association reported that 97 per cent of EV owners told them that they will purchase another EV when it’s time to replace their existing one.
“So if you have a customer that has an EV, you can almost bet that his next vehicle will be an EV,” Carter said, pointing to low operating costs, climate friendliness, environmental benefits, drivability and low maintenance cost as top reasons.
And there’s also autonomous driving. He pointed to services like Waymo, which operate in cities like Phoenix and San Francisco.
“Trust me, this is this will happen. I bet we will see Waymo in Toronto, probably 2027, 2028 timeframe,” Carter predicted.
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