Earlier this week we reported the number of electric vehicles in British Columbia had more than doubled since 2019, with just under 30,000 now on the roads in the province.
A big contributor to that explosion in growth was the Tesla Model 3, which saw registrations increase an astounding 618% from March 2019 to March 2020.
According to figures released by the Victoria Electric Vehicle Association (VEVA) obtained under a freedom of information of request to the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC), there were just under 1,500 Model 3’s licensed to operate in March 2019.
One year later, that number had grown to just under 10,000, making it the most popular EV in the province by a wide margin.
The Nissan Leaf is the second most popular, with just under 7,000 on the road. The Tesla Model S and Model X are the 3rd and 5th most popular respectively.
While they didn’t make it near the top of the list, the other EVs that saw the biggest jumps were the Hyundai Ioniq (416%); Chevrolet Spark (219%) VW eGolf (206%); and the Kia Soul (124%).
Three EVs recently released that were supposed to be tough competition for Tesla’s premium vehicles barely registered on the chart. Audi sold 186 e-Tron’s, Jaguar sold 99 i-Pace vehicles, while Porsche sold just 3 Taycan’s.
The Government of British Columbia is getting serious about EV sales in the province, and it shows in the numbers above. Just this week new regulations were announced that will require 100% of new passenger vehicles sales in the province be electric by the year 2040. They also offer up to $3,000 off the purchase of a qualifying EV, which is on top of the $5,000 federal iZEV rebate.
Featured image: Drive Tesla Model 3 photographed by Kira Antinuk
