Thursday, March 28

Posthaste: ‘The mustang has left the barn’: Canadians want EVs but charging concerns loom


Moving the needle on electric-vehicle adoption will hinge on addressing consumer concerns

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Good morning!

Canadians remain enthusiastic about electric vehicles (EVs), but several concerns are holding them back, a new poll by KPMG LLP’s Canadian unit found.

According to the survey, 71 per cent of respondents would consider an EV for their next purchase and nearly half (49 per cent) are more likely to buy one today compared with a year ago.

“The mustang has left the barn,” said Peter Hatges, KPMG’s national lead on the automotive industry, an allusion to Ford Motor Co.’s iconic Mustang brand, which the company decided to attach to a new battery-powered SUV in 2019. “There is no turning back from the electrification of the automobile industry,” Hages said in a press release.

Still, moving the needle on EV adoption will hinge on addressing consumer concerns. A vast majority (90 per cent) of Canadians said they needed to do “a lot more research” to find the EV that’s right for them.

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Their concerns included driving range, battery performance in winter weather, recharging times, electrical grids, incentives, and the ability to charge anywhere at any time.

“We found that Canadians are ready to make the switch to electric, emission-free vehicles but they want to see improvements in infrastructure and trust battery technology in our climate before they fully commit,” said Hatges.

The top three brands that prospective buyers said they are most likely to purchase were Tesla, Toyota and Honda. Yet, more than three in five (62 per cent) respondents said they would prefer to buy an EV from a company specializing in battery-powered automobiles, none of which are manufactured in Canada.

A large number of auto industry executives are expecting tech giants including Alphabet Inc., Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Huawei Technologies Co., and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. to enter the car market with their own branded vehicles. The poll found that almost half (49 per cent) of Canadians would buy an EV made by a major technology company.

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“As EV production revs up, the established automakers will need to pay close attention to consumer wants and needs,” said Hatges. “Our poll findings reveal brand loyalty isn’t as strong as automakers might think.”

Canadians also want action taken to grow the country’s EV production, and improvements in battery technology will be key to conquering remaining doubts, according to the KPMG report.

“It’s a race to see who can improve battery technology and grab a bigger slice of the market,” said Hatges.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government wants every new car sold to be an EV by 2035. That could be an ambitious target. The KPMG report found that Canada will need four times the number of public charge points, and the electrical grid’s output will need to expand by 36 per cent to support 20 million EVs by that time.

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“Canada has a historic chance to be a leader if key decisions are made now on the needed infrastructure, power generation, battery technology and recycling investment, and key mineral supplies,” said Tammy Brown, KPMG’s national industrial markets leader, in the press release . “A major shakeup is looming in the industry and where Canada falls out has yet to be determined.”

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OLYMPIC MEMORABILIA COMMANDS BIG BUCKS: An envelope with a stamp of Corey Hirsch getting scored upon by Peter Forsberg at the 1994 Winter Olympics. The envelope is signed by Gary Hershorn, a photojournalist, whose photograph capturing the moment at the Olympics was adapted by the Swedish postal service to help render the famous stamp. Hirsch Olympic memorabilia has a value far greater than the cost of an actual stamp. Nostalgia, history, participating in a fleeting Olympic moment that doesn’t seem to age, even as old hockey players do, is priceless, reports The Financial Post’s Joe O’Conner. Photo by an Ottawa-area philatelist

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  • Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation to release its rental market report
  • Today’s Data: Canadian retail sales, new housing price index, monthly credit aggregates; US existing home sales, quarterly services survey, leading indicators
  • Earnings: Air Canada, Deere & Co., North Bud Farms, Chemesis International, Uni-Select

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Shopify had the average price target on its shares slashed to the lowest level since January 2021 after it signalled slower sales growth. More than 20 analysts cut their targets after the stock plunged 17 per cent in Toronto on Wednesday, its biggest drop ever, following a company statement that full-year revenue growth will be lower than the 57 per cent increase in 2021. Shares continue to extend their slump, reports Bloomberg.

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Today’s Posthaste was written by Noella Ovid, with additional reporting from The Canadian Press, Thomson Reuters and Bloomberg.

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financialpost.com