Baris Akyurek is the vice-president of insights and intelligence at AutoTrader.
At AutoTrader, we’ve been conducting a comprehensive survey on electric vehicles since 2022. Our goal is simple: to understand consumers’ purchase intentions, considerations and the main drivers and barriers to owning an EV.
One of the key questions we ask is whether consumers would consider buying an EV for their next car. For the study, we include battery electric vehicles (BEV), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV), mild hybrids and fuel-cell electric vehicles.
Since we launched the survey, the number of Canadians planning to buy an EV has steadily declined.
Currently, 42 per cent of respondents who don’t own an EV say they would consider one for their next purchase, down from a high of 68 per cent in 2022. While gas prices soared in 2022, which was the start of the Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the downward trend is still notable.
Sales versus sentiment: regional realities
I sometimes get pushback when I present these findings at various forums. People often point out that even though purchase intention has fallen, EV sales have increased. The argument aligns with another finding from our survey that EV ownership among respondents increased slightly to 14 per cent in 2025 from 12 per cent in 2024. However, if you look closer at the numbers, the story is more nuanced.
Based on Statistics Canada data, in 2024, nearly all of Canada’s BEV sales growth came from Quebec, where sales soared by 91.6 per cent year-over-year (I covered this in more detail in a previous column). The spike was driven by significant changes to the province’s incentive programs, which were more favourable for consumers. These changes are being phased out by 2027.
If you exclude Quebec from the national figures, the sales growth for BEVs across the rest of Canada was 4.5 per cent – a rate lower than overall new car sales growth at 8 per cent.
Even when Quebec is included, the year-over-year growth rate has been slowing: 51 per cent in 2021, 67.3 per cent in 2022, 45.7 per cent in 2023 and 40.7 per cent in 2024.
So, while EV sales are technically increasing, the pace is not nearly as strong or consistent across provinces as it should be given the ambitious mandates in place (and the volumes are still small). In 2024, 10.9 per cent of all new car sales was attributed to BEVs.
What’s holding consumers back?
The top three reasons consumers are hesitant to buy EVs haven’t changed much: range anxiety, higher purchase costs (which, despite some variation at the make and model level, remain higher than comparable gas-powered vehicles), and the lack of charging infrastructure. These concerns may shift slightly in order but they persist year after year.
That’s an insight in itself. Despite some progress in EV infrastructure, pricing and vehicle range, there haven’t been enough positive developments to ease consumer worries. And even with the progress made, there’s still not nearly enough education or public awareness to make a significant impact. This is particularly worrisome as the economics for consumers may be getting worse. The federal incentive program was abruptly suspended on Jan. 12, making EVs even more expensive to buy.
When Germany ended its national incentive program at the end of 2023, EV sales dropped by 27.4 per cent year-over-year in 2024. A spike in sales at the end of 2023 as buyers rushed to beat the deadline, followed by a sharp decline in 2024. Sound familiar? In March 2025, BEV and PHEV sales in Canada fell by 44.9 per cent year-over-year, according to StatsCan.
Yet, automakers are still expected to meet these ambitious government mandates. Without changes to federal or provincial incentive programs, achieving these targets will be difficult – if not impossible. Our survey shows 78 per cent of Canadians don’t believe automakers will meet the mandates will be met, as incentives continue to play a major role in EV adoption.
Our survey also found 40 per cent of consumers are less likely to buy an EV because of the pause of the iZEV program. We’re still in a phase where regulatory push, not consumer pull, drives the market. Add to that the uncertainty and confusion around tariffs and the outlook becomes clear.
Bridging the gap between targets and reality
It almost feels like we’re making it harder to hit these targets on purpose. Yes, infrastructure is expanding but not quickly enough. Yes, batteries are improving but they still fall short of consumer expectations for range (or perhaps there’s an opportunity to better educate consumers about the improvements made in this field). And yes, prices are higher but incentives made them more palatable.
I have no doubt we have the resources and expertise to move forward but as things stand the outlook isn’t promising. If Canada wants to avoid the kind of long-term sales drop Germany experienced, Ottawa and the provinces need to act swiftly and start making it a priority to keep EVs more affordable through incentives (even if the programs are confusing and can be challenging to navigate).
The data from our EV survey paints a clear picture: despite ongoing technological advancements and increased availability (at the time of writing we have 30-per-cent more EV inventory on AutoTrader year-over-year), consumer enthusiasm for EVs is waning. The recent sales surges in select regions such as Quebec are the exception, not the rule, and are tied to incentive programs now being scaled back. Without meaningful, sustained support to address the persistent barriers of cost, range and infrastructure, the gap between government targets and consumer reality will only continue to widen.
Ultimately, the transition to EVs can’t be achieved by simply increasing supply. If industry leaders and policymakers are serious about accelerating EV adoption, they must prioritize affordability and directly address the concerns that matter most to consumers. Otherwise, as our data and recent international trends suggest, we risk repeating the same cycle of boom and bust – falling short of our climate goals and leaving both buyers and the industry in a state of uncertainty.
The path forward is clear but it demands action, not just ambition.