More electric vehicles have been registered in the first quarter of 2022 than ever before in the country
Quebec leads the way, followed by Ontario and British Columbia
Despite this improvement, the government’s goals are far from being met
More Canadians bought electric vehicles in the first quarter of 2022 than ever before, but it is still not enough to reach the goals set by the federal government in the expected timeframe.
According to Statistics Canada, over 26,000 electric vehicles were registered during the months of January, February, and March of this year across the country, which represents an increase of 50,5% over the same period in 2021.
Without surprise, Quebec is where most of these vehicles were sold (10,399) since the province offers a $7,000 rebate at the time of purchase for zero-emissions vehicles, in addition to the $5,000 provided by the federal government.
Ontario takes second place with 7,123 EVs added to its fleet despite it having cancelled its incentive program back in 2018.
The only other province to have a rebate destined for buyers of electric vehicles is British Columbia, which saw 6,688 electric vehicles reach new buyers early this year.
The other provinces combined account for only 1,808 additional EVs, bringing the national total to 26,018.
This is more than ever before, but it is still far from being enough to meet the government’s goal of having no vehicle powered by gasoline be sold after 2035.
Indeed, the proportion of EVs in the total number of new car sales in the first quarter was only 7,7%.
In order for electric vehicles to gain in popularity, many more public charging stations will have to be created since most owners cite the difficulty of finding a place to charge as a reason why they haven’t bought an electric vehicle, more so than range, which used to be the primary concern.
Source: Statistics Canada via Radio Canada
