Missing Out

Europe enjoys 21 electric vehicles selling for less than $40,000 Canadian. Only one of them is available in Canada

Executive Summary

With the prospect of bringing more European cars into Canada being floated in recent months, Clean Energy Canada decided to analyze the European car market to see what affordable electric options Europeans enjoy today compared to Canadians. The result was pretty striking. Europe has 21 EVs selling for less than the equivalent of $40,000, and only one of those cars, a small, relatively low-range Fiat, is available in Canada (it is the only sub-$40,000 EV available in Canada, period).

It’s not that these cars wouldn’t appeal to Canadians— all but three of them have driving ranges over 300 kilometres—and it’s also not the case that they are all cheap Chinese vehicles undercutting the competition. Only seven of these EVs are from Chinese automakers, or exactly one-third of the list, while 10 of them are European, three are Japanese, and one is South Korean. None are American.

Missing Out highlights the gap in affordable EV options for Canadians—and the federal actions that could help close it.

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