Used winter tires, and EV owners going back to gas

Quebec requires winter tires from 1 December through 15 March on vehicles registered in the province (3-peak mountain snowflake, or studded where allowed). The fine is $200–$300. Ontario has no province-wide mandate. The law cares about the pictogram and the season, not whether the set is new.

A used set is fine if it is still a winter tire, still the right size and load index for the car, and the rubber has not gone hard. EV torque and pack weight chew tread faster than a comparable gas car - we budget about 20% shorter life - so buying a half-spent used set to “save money” can be a one-winter purchase. New dedicated winters in our catalogue run about $700–$1,300.

• DOT date (last four digits on the sidewall). Week + year. Michelin tells owners to have tires inspected after five years of service and to replace them by ten years from manufacture, even with tread left. Winter compound hardens with age; a six-year-old “plenty of tread” tire can still be a hockey puck on ice.
• Tread. Quebec's safety regulation for a typical passenger tire is 1.6 mm before it is illegally bald. That is a tow-truck number, not a snow number. For used winters, shop for well more than that - many Canadian techs want around 6/32 inch (~4.8 mm) remaining if you expect another full season.
• Snowflake, size, load. Same 3PMSF mark Quebec wants. Match the vehicle's size. Match or exceed the load index / XL or HL rating the door sticker or tire shop specifies for that EV. Do not mix winter and all-season on the same axle. Buy four.
• Sidewalls and beads. No cord, no deep cracks, no bulges, no chewed bead from a bad dismount. If it was stored outdoors in the sun, walk away.

Honest new-set math: EV tire cost calculator. First-season habits: first winter with an EV.

The headline people quote is McKinsey's 2024 Mobility Consumer Pulse: 29% of EV owners globally said they were likely or very likely to switch back to an internal-combustion vehicle; 46% in the United States. McKinsey's Toronto partner told the Globe and Mail the Canadian figure was “in the same ballpark” as the U.S. That is stated intent in a survey of more than 30,000 consumers in 15 countries - not a count of keys handed back.

Among owners in that survey who planned to switch, CNBC reported the top reasons: about 35% cited charging infrastructure, 34% total cost of driving, 32% long trips, 24% no home charging, 21% charging stress, 13% how the car felt. Norway, with dense charging and high EV share, was 18%.

S&P Global Mobility tracks households that return to market. After the U.S. federal EV tax credit ended in September 2025, EV lease-return households in Q4 2025 chose a gas vehicle 41.3% of the time and stayed in an EV 46.9% of the time. S&P says the gas share among those lessees nearly doubled from about 24% to 41% over two years. That is U.S. registration behaviour, not a Canadian motor-vehicle registry dump - and it still is not “most owners.”

Loyalty is lopsided. S&P's July 2025–June 2026 window put Tesla households at about 71% EV fuel-type loyalty (they buy another EV) versus about 42.5% for non-Tesla EV households. Earlier S&P work put all BEV households around 68% fuel-type loyalty, Tesla-only higher, and non-Tesla BEVs closer to 47% another BEV / 38% gas / 14% hybrid. The viral 46% is “would consider going back.” The registration data says a large minority do, especially off-lease and non-Tesla, and a majority of Tesla households stay electric.

The Globe piece is still the right Canadian caution: people who lose a home plug, or who bought at $70k+ sticker, talk themselves back toward gas or a hybrid. AutoTrader figures in that December 2024 story put the average new EV at $72,405 and the average used EV at $43,674. Federal EVAP and a used market that has already taken the depreciation hit change the second-car math - EV depreciation, used-EV checklist, rebates by province.

If you have overnight charging, winter tires that actually grip, and a commute the pack can cover, you are not the McKinsey 46%. If you live in a 1980s condo with no stall, you might be - that is a charging problem, documented on condo EV charging, not proof that the powertrain failed.

• Your first winter with an EV in CanadaCAA winter tests show 14–39% less range in the cold. Preheat while plugged in, use winter tires where required, and keep a 20–30% arrival buffer on highway trips.
• EV depreciation in Canada, without the scare quotesCanadian Black Book put four-year EV residuals at 58.45% versus 63.53% for comparable gas vehicles. Faster used-EV supply can help buyers and hurt early sellers - our TCO calculator does not include resale.
• Charge your EV to 80% or 90%?Tesla is two chemistries. LFP (many RWD / Standard packs) should charge to 100% daily. Nickel Long Range packs stay at 80%, or 90% if you drive it. Geotab: sitting full all the time and heavy DC fast charging matter more than 80 vs 90.