Canadian ZEV adoption continued to gain momentum in 2022, surpasses 10% market share for the first time

Canada iZEV rebate

According to the latest numbers from S&P Global Mobility, Canadian zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) sales continued to grow in 2022. Nationally, one of every eleven new vehicle registrations was a zero-emission vehicle (ZEV), or 8.9 per cent.

This is up from 2021 by over three percentage points. For Canada a ZEV includes hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles. When combined the ZEV market share in Canada reached over 10% for the first time ever, accounting for 10.2% of all vehicles sales in the country last year.

British Columbia continues to lead the country in ZEV adoption, with 14.9 per cent of new registrations in the province being zero-emission. Here is a full breakdown by province according to S&P.

A continued trend is the dominance of Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto in terms of ZEV adoption. These three cities and surrounding areas account for 58 per cent of the total zero-emission volume in the country. While urban centres are responsible for 85.6 per cent of zero-emission volume, rural only have 14.4 per cent of the volume.

“Not only has the market share of ZEVs increased, but the overall volume of ZEVs has also seen a substantial growth. Year over year, the total volume of ZEVs in Canada has increased by 38.8%,” says S&P Global. (via Electric Autonomy)

When looking at purely battery electric vehicle (BEVs), this segment also saw a substantial 65.4% increase in volume.

In terms of brands, Tesla continues to be the king in Canada, and by a wide margin. The top ten brands in Canada in 2022 were:

  1. Tesla
  2. Hyundai
  3. Ford
  4. Chevrolet
  5. Jeep
  6. BMW
  7. Toyota
  8. Kia
  9. Volvo
  10. Audi

Interestingly, only Toyota and Kia saw a decline in year-over-year vehicle volume; all other brands saw gains. Tesla’s dominance should continue into 2023, but we should see it drop a little as more entrants and vehicles enter the Canadian market in 2023 and beyond.

About Scott Nordlund 1559 Articles
Originally from the West Coast, Scott is an avid writer & EV enthusiast now living in Ottawa. He holds a MA in Political Science and once played professional football in the German Football League. Email scott@driveteslacanada.ca