A growing number of Canadians is buying electric vehicles. The federal government has said that the change of gas to electric vehicles is “crucial to achieve our climatic goals” while keeping the air clean and saves money to people over time.
But so far, the owners of Canadian EVs tend to live in just three provinces, in certain types of communities, and come from certain demography.
So who is doing the switch? How is that changing? And why some groups of Canadians are making the change of EV, while others are still buying gasoline?
Where most Canadian EV drivers live
In Canada, the EVs represented 17 percent of all new cars sold in 2024, compared to 13 percent in 2023, The International Energy Agency reported. Last year, 252,000 completely electric or plug -in hybrid electric cars were sold in Canada.
A large majority of sales have been in BC, Ontario and Quebec, where more than 92 percent of the new EVs were recorded in 2024According to Statistics Canada.
Cara Clairman, President and Executive Director of Plug’n Drive, an organization focused on public education on electric vehicles, credit reimbursements and sales objectives in BC and Quebec. Both B.C. and Quebec They are finishing their reimbursement programs, but they still have sales goals. For example, 26 percent of light service vehicles sold on BC must be zero emission vehicles in 2026 (Ontario also had an EV refund program from 2010 to 2018, and allows EVs to use lanes to share the trip).
EV sales mandates mean that more distributors have EV in their lots in those provinces and, therefore, sell more, Clairman said. In many parts of Canada, it is still impossible to try an EV, he adds: “And who is going to buy one without trying?”
Your organization is trying to fill the void for touring the country, offering trial units Of the latest electrical and plug -in hybrids, SUVs and brand trucks such as Chevrolet, Mitsubishi, Hyundai and Volvo, in different communities.
The federal government launched its own Sales goals from Zev in 2023Starting with 20 percent in 2026 and increasing 100 percent in 2035.
Why the suburbs are ‘their best place to become electric’
The Maps of EV records in the southwest BC and in Ontario, two of the main markets for EVs, show a strong absorption of EV in urban and suburban areas of lower density.
Julia Kyriazis is director of Public Affairs of Clean Energy Canada, a group of experts affiliated with Simon Fraser University focused on the transition to renewable energy technologies and cleaners.
She said the suburbs are “their best place to become electric” because they are dominated by single -family houses where it is easy to install the domestic load.
Suburban inhabitants tend to have longer car trips and less traffic options than those who live in the center. “With an EV, the more he drives, the more he saves compared to a service car,” he said.
Many suburban homes also have more than one car, which means they can store a service car for road travel if they are worried on the road.
TO Canadian 16,041 survey Users of the Plugshare application, which helps drivers find EV load stations, were made last October by the Canadian car association and plugshare research with the support of other groups, including the plug unit.
A snapshot of his respondents found that 58 percent were over 55 years old, four out of five live in single -family houses, nine out of 10 their own home, and half of the EV drivers have at least one vehicle with gasoline in their home.
Similar patterns remain in the United States, where It is expected that 60 percent of the 33 million electric vehicles in the country are in suburban areas by 2030. The rest would be divided evenly between urban and rural areas.
Urban and rural challenges
Clairman said that in most provinces, the public load infrastructure of EV is “quite good” in urban and southburban areas.
However, in dense urban areas, many residents may face challenges that accompany EVs in apartments or condominium buildings where they live, and even single -family house owners can be “garage orphans” that depend on the street parking and do not have a reliable place to connect at home.
Kyriazis was recently co -author of a study that shows that governments are not doing what is necessary to provide EV charges access to the third of Canadian homes living in apartments and condominium buildings.
“That is really blocking them from the transition of EV,” he said, adding that it is a lost opportunity, since many anxious young people because the EVs live in that type of housing.
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In rural areas, Clairman said: “For some people [EVs] It can really work. “Rural residents are also likely to drive long distances and have a single -family house.
In Quebec, which has 2,000 fast charging stations throughout the province and plans to have 6,700 by 2030, Clairman says there is “quite” rural adoption.
The Community Energy Association, which has been installing load networks in rural areas of BC, Alberta and Ontario, for example, once the public burden is available, EV adoption rates in rural areas can be on par with those of urban areas.
Clairman acknowledges that there are still rural routes without sufficient load infrastructure, such as through northern Ontario, and a complete battery may not work there. But he added: “Do not forget the plug -in hybrid, which is the perfect commitment vehicle.”
Men still ahead in the adoption of EV?
Clairman said he had noticed for years that more men tended to come to the test events of Plug’n Drive.
“Even when couples arrived, the woman said: ‘Oh, he can drive,'” he recalled, he added that he encouraged them to do a driving test.
David Kovach, Chief of Research of Plugshare, the group based in the United States, which co-drew the CAA survey, said that the three quarters of the users of the Plugshare application are men, the same proportion of men who responded to the Canadian survey. While the survey was not necessarily representative of the population of conductors of Canadian EV, other surveys suggest that men are adopting EV US and the United Kingdom
Enhipipen drive was associated with women in renewable energy for survey women about why. They discovered that women had security concerns about public burden, because in the past, there were many options were often located in more isolated places. Clairman said that load points operators have become more aware of that, and is changing.
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Kovach said more load stations are being added to the service stations and travel centers with more traffic. Fast loading rates have increased in the US. Uu. With the addition of more powerful loaders, reducing load times of up to 40 minutes up to only 10 or 15, and that “makes a big difference in terms of people perception of people over security,” he added.
The Plug’n Drive survey found that the affordability of vehicles was also a problem for women, which earn less money than men on average.
“The first users tend to be higher income because at that time, vehicles were more expensive,” Clairman said. “We are seeing that change over time.”
Is the lack of information still a problem?
Both Kovach and Clairman say that the infrastructure is improving and the costs are going down, which makes the EVs more accessible, but the lack of information remains a great barrier, especially in areas and between groups where the adoption of EV is low.
Clairman said that people are even surprised to find the evidence of driving an EV very similar to a normal car: “Imagine that it is something difficult or something really different.”
Tim Burrows, who has created a series of web seminars “Canada Electric Speech” for the Society of Electric Vehicles and is the contact of the Missssauga chapter of the group. He said that he helps to talk to people who trust that they lead to electric vehicles, but “it is one of those things in which you have to take a jump of faith.”
Both Kovach and Clairman noticed that infrastructure and fossil fuel domain have been built for more than 100 years, and modern EVs only reached the market about 15 years ago.
“The adoption of EV, you know, has some potholes along the way here or there,” said Kovach, “but I think we are overcoming those potholes and … keeping consumers informed and changing their erroneous perceptions are really key to part of the growth we have.”
