Like Americans, Canadian car buyers have access to a range of electric vehicle models, but also like their neighbors to the south, they don’t see the rainbow of affordable EVs from China that many Europeans do. A recent survey showed that buyers in the country want that to change, finding that more than half support lower tariffs that allow more affordable vehicle models to enter the market.
Clean Energy Canada’s recent survey found that 53 percent of Canadians support a “lower tariff that balances protection for Canada’s auto industry with improving affordability for consumers, in line with Europe.” Almost 30 percent of other respondents said they wanted the tariffs gone completely, while just 19 percent wanted to keep the full 100 percent tariffs in place.
Where the Canadian respondents may diverge with their American counterparts is on political affiliation, as the survey found there wasn’t a significant difference between answers from people backing different parties.
Beyond tariffs, one of the reasons the U.S. and Canada don’t see as many lower-cost options on sale is safety. Canada follows the United States’ vehicle safety standards, which are responsible for keeping many vehicles out of the country, but 70 percent of the survey respondents said they’d be open to relaxing some environmental and safety standards to increase their range of choice.
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