'Range anxiety': What’s driving a lack of interest in electric vehicle sales?
A recent survey by AutoTrader found consumer demand for an EV is down for a second straight year.
The online survey of 1,600 Canadians over the age of 19 was conducted in February and March 2024.
Respondents were asked: Would you consider an electric vehicle for your next car purchase?
“68 per cent said that they would in 2022. It came down to 56 per cent in 2023, and now we're sitting at around 46 per cent for 2024,” Baris Akyurek told CTV News Friday.
He’s the vice-president of Insights and Intelligence for AutoTrader.
Akyurek said they took their question one step further, asking respondents why they would pick a gas-powered vehicle over an EV.
“The biggest reason is probably not a big surprise, it’s the ‘range anxiety,’” according to Akyurek. “79 per cent of the consumers don't want to buy an EV because they're anxious for their trips.”
The second concern was charging station availability, or lack thereof.
And the third reason might be the most significant, cost.
Akyurek said they crunched the numbers on AutoTrader.ca and found electric vehicles cost 15 to 20 per cent more than the same model of gas-powered car.
He did note however, the cost is starting to come down for electric vehicles.
“Demand is coming down. Supply is increasing and what's happening to prices, [they] have been coming down,” Akyurek said. “The price decline on a year-over-year basis is 17.4 per cent.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Board orders deportation for trucker in horrific Humboldt Broncos crash
The truck driver who caused the horrific bus crash involving the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team has been ordered to be deported.
How to keep insects out of your house, according to an entomologist and other experts
Now that temperatures have warmed up even more this spring, you may be anxious at the thought of bugs invading your home or you may already be battling the pests. Here are expert tips on how to keep them away.
Community mourns victims of fatal boat crash near Kingston, Ont.
The three people killed in last weekend's tragic collision between a speedboat and a fishing boat north of Kingston are being remembered Friday.
A woman took her dog to a shelter to be euthanized. A year later, the dog is up for adoption again
Exhausted and short on options after consulting two veterinary clinics, Kristie Pereira made the gut-wrenching decision last year to take her desperately ill puppy to a Maryland shelter to be euthanized.
Group tied to Islamic State plotted fatal Ontario restaurant shooting: Crown
A gunman who is accused of killing a young Ontario man and shooting four of his family members at their small Mississauga restaurant in 2021 was allegedly part of a trio who had pledged allegiance to the listed terrorist group Islamic State, a Crown attorney said in an opening statement in the Brampton murder trial this week.
'Quiet vacationing': Surveys show workers don't use all of their vacation days, play hooky
'Quiet vacationing' is the latest new term to describe the rough edges of office culture, and survey data shows it's widespread among North American workers.
Car bomb in the Syrian capital kills one. Drone strike near Lebanon border targets two vehicles
A bomb attached to a car exploded early Saturday in the western part of the Syrian capital that is home to several diplomatic missions, killing one person and causing material damage, state media reported.
Avian flu: Catch up on spread, risks, and guidance from health experts
After another case of H5N1 avian flu linked to dairy cows was confirmed in a second dairy farmer in the United States, some Canadian experts say the federal government needs to expand surveillance of the virus north of the border.
This type of screen time has the worst effect on kids: experts
According to some experts, there is one type of screen time that is continuously excessive, and it's having a severe effect on our children.