Over half of all electrics sold in Canada in 2024 reside in Quebec
Thanks in large part to explosive growth in Canada’s largest plug-in vehicle market, Quebec, battery-electric vehicles accounted for 9.1% of the new vehicles sold in Canada during the first-half of 2024. According to Statistics Canada, that’s up from 7.2% in the first-half of 2023, 5.4% in 2022, and 1.8% in pre-pandemic 2019.
Beyond the first-half, we now have sales results from the first two-thirds of 2024 for vehicles eligible to receive rebates in the federal government’s iZEV program, including plug-in hybrids.
Outside of Canada’s three big EV markets – Quebec, Ontario, British Columbia generate 95% of rebate-eligible EV sales – plug-in hybrids are very nearly as popular as electrics. In fact, in each of the four Atlantic provinces, automakers actually delivered more PHEVs than BEVs in the first-two-thirds of 2024.
Nationally, however, sales of pure electrics in 2024 outnumber plug-in hybrids by nearly three-to-one. PHEV volume jumped at the greatest rate in British Columbia, where an 83% year-over-year gain resulted in 7,509 rebate-eligible sales in the first eight months of 2024. While B.C.’s overall market for new vehicles is less than one-third the size of Ontario’s, B.C.’s provincial incentive structure and accelerated ZEV sales targets for manufacturers combine to produce slightly more rebate-eligible BEV and PHEV sales than Ontario.
Province by province, your mileage, as they say, may vary. Only 0.1% of new vehicles sold in Saskatchewan are BEVs, for example. That figure jumps to 19% in Quebec. Consequently, because demand varies so widely by jurisdiction, some of the numbers you’re about to see may seem outrageous. Depending on your location, Teslas may either be decidedly uncommon or downright ubiquitous.
Nevertheless, according to federal statistics from the Incentives for Zero-Emission Vehicles Program from the first eight months of 2024, these are the five best-selling electric vehicles and five best-selling plug-in hybrids in Canada this year.
Canada’s Best-Selling Electric Vehicles
5. Hyundai Kona Electric: 6,683, up 77%
4. Ford Mustang Mach-E: 7,083, up 279%
3. Volkswagen ID.4: 7,259, up 97%
2. Tesla Model 3: 9,490, up 35%
1. Tesla Model Y: 19,188, up 113%
Canada’s Best-Selling Plug-In Hybrid Vehicles
5. Mazda CX-90 Plug-In Hybrid: 2,195, up 473%
4. Toyota Prius Prime: 2,914, up 130%
3. Ford Escape Plug-In Hybrid: 4,603, up 144%
