Majority of Canadians prefer EVs

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More than half of Canadians told a recent survey that they would prefer to drive an electric vehicle over an internal combustion engine vehicle.

Financial comparison website Compare the Market surveyed Canadians, Australians and Americans about vehicle preferences. The majority (51.4 per cent) said they want an EV while a third (34.1 per cent) wanted a traditional gas-powered vehicle. The remaining 14.5 per cent had no preference.

While these findings are in line with Australians’ feelings, it’s the inverse from our neighbours to the south. Most Americans prefer an ICE vehicle (53 per cent) and a third (34 per cent) want an EV, with 13 per cent saying they have no preference.

For Canadians, the main roadblock to buying an EV was due to purchase price (60.5 per cent). Battery life/replacement costs were second (57.6 per cent) while driving range (49.2 per cent) rounded out the top three.

Americans cited the same reasons, but in a different order. Battery life/replacement costs topped the list (56.4 per cent), followed by purchase price (54.4 per cent) and driving range (50.9 per cent)

When it comes to car shopping, most Canadians want to spend less than $24,999 — 31 per cent of Canadians want to be under this number when buying an ICE vehicle, while 21 per cent of EV shoppers said the same.

Next was the 25,000-34,99 range — 24 per cent of ICE vehicle shoppers are willing to be in this range, as do 16 per cent of EV buyers.

Of note, as the higher the price ranges went up, more EV buyers were willing to be in those ranges compared to ICE shoppers. For example, 10 per cent of shoppers were willing to spend more than $85,000 on an EV, compared to 3 per cent of ICE vehicle shoppers.