The Financial Post reports in its Wednesday edition that Canadians' interest in electric vehicles surged after oil prices spiked and the federal government reinstated a consumer rebate worth thousands of dollars per vehicle, according to a new survey. The Post's Gabriel Friedman writes that among non-EV owners in Canada, 49 per cent now say they would consider buying one, according to an annual survey of more than 1,700 Canadians that was released this week by Autotrader. That is up from 42 per cent in 2025 and is the first increase in "EV purchase intent" since 2022. "We have been seeing a decline in interest in EVs since 2022 in our data, and now there is an uptick and there are multiple reasons behind this," Baris Akyurek, vice-president at Autotrader, said. "One is gas prices and the other is the federal consumer incentives." The average price of gas in Canada currently is at $1.74 per litre, up 45 per cent from $1.20 in late December. The biggest increase occurred in March after the United States attacked Iran. Searches for EVs on the Autotrader site rose 33 per cent in March after gas prices spiked. Tesla ranked first when respondents were asked about which brands come to mind when they think of EVs.