When Tim Burrows bought his first electric vehicle in 2013, he and his wife took a trip down east and around the Cabot Trail on Cape Breton Island. It was pretty novel for the time.
He figured out a solution. He got behind a transport truck and drafted behind, his eyes burned on the dashboard’s battery percentage display, which slowly crept back up. It was the only time, he says, in more than 300,000 kilometres of driving an EV that he feared being stranded.The shift to green vehicles has recently slowed after unexpectedly rapid growth in sales from 2017 to 2023.
“‘EV curious’ is a term that I've heard the industry use a lot,” Jennifer French, MPP for Oshawa and NDP official opposition critic for transportation and infrastructure, tells The Pointer. “And in my own experience in the community, there is a lot of interest. People want to be part of what's coming. But they want to have options and choices.”
While French said she recognizes the benefits of offering EV rebates cancelled by Doug Ford and his PC government immediately after the 2018 election, and it is something the NDP will put in place if they govern following the 2026 election, she believes the biggest barrier to EV adoption is the lack of infrastructure in place which makes owning an EV less accessible.
Many PCs clapped back with the argument that amending the Building Code to require EV-supportive building features would increase the cost of homes, something that would not be conducive to fighting the affordability crisis. French argued that adding the infrastructure from the get-go is actually the more affordable solution. The costs of upgrading a home to allow for electric vehicle charging can be as much as $3,000 to $5,000.
“The NDP certainly knows that starting at home is a part of it, but also strengthening the infrastructure across the province and working with partners to make sure that folks can charge whether at home or at work or on the road,” she told The Pointer. “That's certainly something we support.” As of last year, the PC government reported there were about 1,800 public charging stations across Ontario with more than 5,000 charging ports. This is miles away from where the province needs to be to meet the federal government’s targets.