Electric vehicles in Canada: A national analysis of consumer preferences, willingness-to-pay, and market segmentation

This paper reports on the results of a large 2015 survey of Canadian consumers that sought to assess attitudes and preferences towards consumer vehicular electric mobility options. A stated preference experiment was carried out as part of this survey and the collected responses were analyzed via a latent class discrete choice model that identified segments with very distinct characteristics. Four classes emerge from the analysis with each class being oriented to one of the primary vehicle technologies. The dominant characteristics of the ICE-oriented class are purchase price sensitivity and EV scepticism; for the HEV-oriented class it is time sensitivity and a resulting reluctance to plug-in; for the PHEV class it is measured optimism about pluggingin combined with pragmatism; and for the BEV class it is true optimism about electric vehicles and a focus on positive aspects such as rapid acceleration and minimized maintenance costs.