2019 Q3 Electric vehicle sales in Canada

This article was published by Electric Mobility Canada

Record numbers of Canadian drivers continued to adopt Zero Emission Vehicles (ZEVs) in Q3. Third quarter sales of 16,091 ZEVs – a category that includes battery-electric, plug-in hybrid and fuel cell vehicles, but not conventional hybrids – increased 25 per cent year-over-year in the first full quarter of the availability of federal purchase incentives through Transport Canada’s iZEV program.

Despite a modest decline in Zero Emission Vehicle sales from Q2 – widely expected, given automakers’ ongoing challenges of meeting vehicle supply – ZEVs achieved 3.5 per cent market share in Canada in the third quarter.

While ZEV adoption has accelerated across Canada, uptake has been strongest in British Columbia and Quebec, the two provinces offering purchase incentives as well as policy mandates requiring that ZEVs represent a steadily increasing proportion of passenger vehicle sales.

Indeed, since the introduction of federal policy support in May, ZEV market share has exceeded 10 per cent in British Columbia and 7 per cent in Quebec.

For more details, read our full Q3-2019 EV sales report.

Q3 2019 Highlights

• 25 per cent year-over-year growth in ZEV sales and market share versus Q3 2018; minor quarter-over-quarter sales drop, as expected.
• 3.5 per cent ZEV share of passenger vehicle sales in Canada since introduction of federal purchase incentives (May 2019); 10 per cent in British Columbia and 7 per cent in Quebec
• Monthly ZEV sales now comparable to sales of car segment-leading Honda Civic or SUV segment-leading Toyota RAV4