Less than half of Canadians say they will buy an electric vehicle as their next car: survey
Less than half of Canadians say they will buy an electric vehicle as their next car: survey
A recent survey shows not all Canadians are ready to make the switch to an electric vehicle as they have concerns about charging stations, cold weather and battery life.
A recent survey shows not all Canadians are ready to make the switch to an electric vehicle as they have concerns about charging stations, cold weather and battery life.
same data headline: 'Almost 50% of Canadians say they will consider buying an electric vehicle as their next car'
I think they are trying to denote the trend. According to autotrader (the source of the headline claim), it was 68% two years ago and has been dropping by about 10% a year. Pretty sure the Musk factor sucked the wind out of Tesla's sales, and then there are the stories from the article where people get saddled with a massive 20K repair bill after 8 years of ownership. I'm sure that's an outlier, but you just don't get bills that high with a gas car. And as much as the government wants us all using them by 2035, they have done sweet bugger all to build up the massive charging infrastructure required to get people over their range anxiety. That doesn't instill much confidence in prospective buyers.
Not necessarily. The "don't know" chunk may be sizable.
Unsaid part of headline: "Most Canadians can't afford a new car, and many that can don't own a house and have nowhere to charge".
Electric cars, as they currently are, are a rich person's solution to climate change.
This.
My next car will be whatever used car I think will get me through 4 more years. Maybe the one after that will be electric. But until people can walk onto a lot and drive away in an EV, or, especially, find one on Kijiji, then the number of people whose next car is an EV is going to remain low.
The fact that the number of people considering it right now is anywhere near 50% is a big deal.
TBF, I was watching a YouTube video yesterday where he mentionned that there's actually a decent used EV market now. We bought a used car ˜10 months ago, and EVs were out of the question with autotrader listings in Ontario starting at ˜$40K for any EV in good driving condition. Now you can find some all the way down to ˜$20K.
But until people can walk onto a lot and drive away in an EV,
That's the main reason my current car isn't an EV.
When my previous car got written off by insurance, I needed a replacement ASAP, and wasn't in a position to wait 12-48 weeks to order one that I couldn't even test drive before putting my money down.
.
And yes, transit, bla bla... they won't let me take my toolboxes and ladder on the bus - even if it went where I need to go.
They’re way too expensive for most people. Even taking any savings into account from not needing gas, less maintenance, and rebates.
A lot of them are about double just buying a gas car sticker price wise.
I want an electric car but it’s hard to justify it.
A lot of that comes down to how much you drive it. I did a post a few weeks back that showed a brand new Kia Niro EV could be had for about $200 more per month than a brand new Kia Forte, something like $1000 vs $1200 total cost once you factored in gas for 20,000km a year in driving. The difference would be way more if you only drive 5000km per year, and the difference goes away completely if you drive 30,000km a year.
I really hope car sharing like Communauto picks up because that currently fulfills a large part of the needs of a car, and has the advantage of reserved parkings and can be connected to slower charging stations when it's not in use.
I live car free, fix the fucking transit!
This would do so much more for the environment than every car converting to an EV.
Some people call me a hero...
But yea, 100%, especially if paired with common sense densification. The less distance we need to move people the better a situation we're in.
The underlying plot of this article is rather obnoxious. This Smith guy's 2016 Hyundai hybrid broke and the dealer gave him a $15k quote to fix it, which was then resolved by Hyundai corporate. The headline statement is one small paragraph, and irrelevant to this random story.
To discuss the headline, though, I think it all stems from misinformation more than anything. I have an EV in the charging desert of north east Saskatchewan. It's a fantastic car and I wouldn't hesitate to buy one again. Yes, you do have to plan ahead a bit if you're going longer distances, but the slight inconvenience is well worth the savings in fuel. Winter range can be reduced by around 50% at -30, but again, you plan around that. ICE vehicles don't perform well at those temperatures either.
Even then, the trips the vast majority of people make are well within typical EV ranges and there are often several charging option wherever the vehicle is parked.
Misinformation, and a lack of experience are absolutely massive.
People don't know how simple an EV is until they have one for a while.
Even just rent one for a day. They're so simple and just work.
Because we’ll have proper rail infrastructure then right?
Because we’ll have proper rail infrastructure then right?
I've had one for five years, and 176000km, and it is one of the best decisions I've ever made, especially for a large purchase. I'll honestly never go back to gas as long as electric cars are available to buy.
Would you be able to justify it if you only drove <4000km a year? An old beater gas guzzler might cost a few grand, and be perfectly fine for the occasional driver. What does the least expensive used EV going for?
The problem with EVs (among other things), is that they are inaccessible to a large number of people due to their cost, while regular cars might not be.
If I drive less than 4000km a year I would question if I needed a car at all, that's a 7km one way commute. When my commute was that small, I rode a bike. Not for everyone of course, but that's how I handled it.
Honestly, I understand EVs are a tough sell to a section of the population hopping from 4k beater to 4k beater, but the average new vehicle sale was $68,000 or so last year. That tells me the average new vehicle buyer can afford an EV.
Probably not the first choice of manufacture, but credit where it's due and BYD is making waves with The Seagull
I wanted to go electric, but I live in apartments and rent, and it's hard enough to get property management companies to fix the furnace.
Because they are >$60,000 toys! The Lightning pickup weighs 3 FUCKING TONS it has a 5.5" box and seats 5 people!?! That's just a minivan but worse.
If something like this actually comes on the market and doesn't stay speculative vaporware I will buy one without a second thought. It's small, has a 6 foot bed, weighs under 2 tons and a 400km range (which is WAY more than you need if you charge every night). Not as efficient as a commuter car but still better than any combustion vehicle AND it can carry all the groceries, beer crates and top soil that I need.
A Ford Lightning is one of those trucks that people living in cities and suburbs but who grew up on the edge of suburbs or in the exurbs while being hyperfixated on masculinity and "rural roots" drive. Theres a whole fleet of these things with ICEs. They're what the dad drives in SUV families.
I'm hoping the canoos can be as good as they claim for the price too.
That's an assload of glass on the front but otherwise they look kinda cool.
Looks great but WTF is up with those giant white wall tires?
My next car will 100% be an EV, even living in Alberta, it will be an EV.
We've been trying to go EV for 20 years. The first obstacle was lack of workspace to convert our little Japanese mini-truck (apartment dwellers).
The next obstacle was cost. We moved to where we had workspace, but then we couldn't afford either the conversion or an equivalently price used Leaf. It's also still a charging desert, with the nearest charger 150 km away and it's not even on the way to anywhere we go often enough to matter.
Then time became an obstacle. Our current vehicles will likely see us to an age where we have to stop driving. Does it make sense to live several years of our retirement as paupers to pay for a decent used EV? We've decided that it doesn't. For our current driving patterns, getting 100km of winter range would cover 50-70 percent of our driving. 50km of winter range would cut that to 20-30 percent. I keep my eye out for something under CA$10k, but haven't seen anything yet.
I want a car, not a subscription.
Admittedly, many internal combustion vehicles have subscriptions, too, but the EV industry is so much worse for this.
Which EVs have required subscriptions?
My Kia sure doesn't.
I didn't say anything about requiring a subscription. For many manufacturers, including Kia, it's optional if you want certain features attached to a cellular device the manufacturer is already paying for and harvesting data from regardless of whether or not you subscribe.
I just bought my next car: An electric cargo bike.
I’m waiting to see all the real world reviews for Aptera
Only electric cars should be allowed to drive on city roads.
Only people who can afford electric cars should be allowed to drive on city roads. FTFY.
Being poor isn't an excuse to run a combustion engine outside my window.
Only electric cars should be allowed to drive on city roads.
No delivery trucks?
No plumber's vans?
They make electric mass produced work trucks now. Perfect for city deliveries and trades people doing city work.
Honestly, I have a hybrid, and even a lvl 2 charger at home, but I could never consider going full EV where I live, as I need a vehicle that can travel 700km in a single charge at -30°C before they are viable.
Give me a small SUV that can do that, and keep my payments under $300 bi-weekly, and I would switch in a heartbeat.
On a side note - fuck BC Hydro's exorbitant charging station rates, they are as bad as just using gas in my escape
as I need a vehicle that can travel 700km in a single charge at -30°C before they are viable
Seems like you need to move closer to wherever you’re going or plan better
Difficult to find non-electric cars that can do that
I own my home and am as happy as I can be at my current job, why would I decide to move 350km away where I would have a rent/mortgage, need to find new work for my spouse and I, and live in a city that literally reeks of sewage constantly?
As for "planning better", cold snaps can happen at any time from late October to early April around here, and if one happens when I plan to do some shopping for necessities where its 20%+ cheaper? Oh well, at least the roads will be more likely to be clear.
I think you'd fit into what we'd call an outlier situation.
I definitely agree that I am an outlier, but due to the size of Canada and how many remote towns there are (especially in western Canada, which Ontario and Quebec pretend don't exist), there are an unfortunately high number of outliers.
Honestly, more than getting everyone on full electric cars that don't have the range needed to compete convenience-wise, Canada needs to invest in better long distance transit options, be it better (preferably electrified) bus systems, or expanding on our train systems (and stop price gouging the very few passenger trains we have).