Ontario is Lagging Behind on EV Purchase Consideration Statistics

A new study by Kanetix.ca has shown that nearly half of Canadians (48.7%) would consider an electric or hybrid car as their next vehicle.

That's a great number; but when broken out by province, Ontario falls short of where it should be considering the amazing level of EV support by the provincial government.

The number one province is Nova Scotia with a whopping 64.5% of respondents being likely to consider an electric vehicle, followed next by BC at 54.9%.

Ontario comes in at 45% (tied with Quebec), but what is alarming is that Nova Scotia has no rebate and the BC rebate is only up to $6000; far short of the previous Ontario max rebate of $8500 which has since been boosted to as much as $14,000. Basic logic would dictate that Ontario should be leading the pack.

Likely the disparity is somewhat cultural with Ontarians possibly being a little less likely to embrace the "eco" aspect of EVs and maybe a little more adverse to change and new technology. Unfortunately I am not a social scientist so I cannot say for sure, but what I can say is that we as EV owners and enthusiasts should do what we can to boost the numbers up a bit considering the great incentives our province provides.

You can:

- Bring up the topic with friends, family and co-workers who you know are considering a new car purchase. You may not want to come off as "preachy" but a lot of people may be the perfect fit for an EV and just never considered it. Also you don't need to own one to have the knowledge to steer people in the right direction. Go for some test drives yourself even if you have no intent of purchasing right now.

- If you own an EV, really give the people who stop you to ask you about your car the time to explain the car as best you can. Always bring up the incentives, it is amazing how many people have no clue as the government does not do a great job of advertising them.

- Share things on social media, if you have to suffer through pictures of your high school friend's new baby (I kid), they can manage a few EV positive articles popping up in their news feed.

- Push your employer and your local stores and malls to install charging. Seeing charging infrastructure go in gets people thinking about electric vehicles.

You can read the full Marketing Mag article here.