High gas prices spark EV debate as industry faces uncertainty

High gas prices have given increased attention to EVs, despite costs and setbacks. Heather Wright reports on automakers’ new pitches at a Toronto EV expo.

TORONTO — With a fleet of vehicles as part of his construction business, Sam el Dahr says filling up the trucks is costing him a small fortune.

“I’ve been driving in the city for as long as I can remember,” he said. “Gas prices have never been this high.”

With gas prices across the country at or near record highs, el Dahr is among the growing number of people contemplating going electric.

“I do think about it a lot,” he said.

This week, the EV and Charging Expo is being held in Toronto, a trade show that brings together governments, businesses and developers with an eye on finding new solutions related to EVs and charging infrastructure.

“We’ve got really huge and high gas prices right now and so the cost of electricity, the cost of running an EV is minuscule by comparison,” said Nino di Cara, the founder of Electric Autonomy Canada, the trade show organizer.

Di Cara predicts the high cost of gas, along with federal rebates, will nudge new buyers into the market where the cost to charge is less volatile.

“You don’t have these peaks and troughs in your pockets,” he said of the fluctuating cost of gas.

While the low cost of charging an EV is appealing, many barriers remain to making EVs a practical choice for Canadians. According to a study by Rates.ca, roughly 30 per cent of Canadians say they are interested in EVs, but the higher-than-average purchase price and anxiety over finding a place to charge the vehicles remain significant barriers to adoption.

“I think part of the reason why adoption rates tend to be higher in Europe is because they have access to affordable electric vehicles,” said Addisu Lashitew, an associate professor of strategic management at McMaster University. “Oil prices also tend to be much higher in Europe ... so that explains why in countries like Norway, you have adoption rates of more than 90 per cent for EVs.”

Figures from S&P Global show EV adoption rates in Canada slowed significantly last year, down 9.7 per cent in the first quarter of 2025. The numbers did improve by the end of the year, finishing the fourth quarter at 12.1 per cent.

Lagging sales coupled with the ongoing trade war have led some automakers to pause or scrap EV production in Canada.

“We’re in a tariff situation right now that the economics around manufacturing EVs and the amount of demand, and the demand that automakers were expecting, didn’t manifest itself,” said Di Cara. “And so you have seen a lot of automakers make corrections to their manufacturing programs.”

In January, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a limited number of Chinese EVs would be allowed to enter Canada, a move that could help make EVs more affordable.

Under the agreement struck with Beijing, 49,000 vehicles can be imported each year at a tariff rate of six per cent. The deal has drawn the ire of Canadian automakers and unions which worry about the impact it will have on the domestic auto sector.

Despite the recent challenges in the sector, insiders expect the EV market to keep growing, calling electrification the “north star” for transportation.

On Wednesday, the federal government announced nearly $11 million to install more charging stations across the country, a move aimed in part at easing at least one of the barriers to EV adoption.