Fewer and fewer Canadian consumers are considering buying an electric vehicle as their next car, an AutoTrader survey has shown.
For the third consecutive year, the share of Canadians who would buy an EV has dropped. This year’s survey found that 42% of respondents say they would be considering an EV as their next vehicle, down from 46% in 2024, and down from a massive 68% considering buying an EV in 2022.
Only 29% of respondents in the 2025 survey said they would exclusively consider buying an EV. This is a quite a decline in EV attractiveness compared to 40% of survey respondents who were exclusively considering buying an EV last year.
The phase-out of federal government incentives is likely the biggest reason for the decline.
The AutoTrader poll showed that lower government incentives for EV purchases, insufficient charging infrastructure, and longer-term costs were deterring buyers, even as prices of the EVs have dropped in recent years.
Among those who do not own an EV, 68% said that incentives could influence their choice of potentially buying an electric car. Just over half of non-EV owners noted that their confidence in purchasing an electric vehicle increases due to incentives.
EV sales in Canada are set to drop in 2025 with a phase-out of purchase incentives that had supported the market so far, RBC said in a report earlier this year.
Thanks to subsidies, one in seven cars sold in Canada last year was an EV.
However, the federal incentives program ran out of funding in early 2025 ahead of schedule.
“The question on policymakers and the auto industry’s minds is whether Canadian EV sales can continue to motor along in the absence of incentives. January’s data suggests a drop in EV sales already,” RBC’s Farhad Panahov said.
The phase-out of incentives is one of the key factors that could slow the EV adoption in Canada this year, along with tariffs and trade hurdles, range anxiety, and charging availability, according to the Canadian bank.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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