Tesla buyers have accounted for the major share of Canada’s federal iZEV incentive, claiming about one-quarter of successful applications.
Transport Canada has revealed statistics about the country’s EV incentive program, iZEV. The data shows that Tesla buyers have used 25 percent of all slots in the program in 2024. This is nearly double that of the EV brand in second place. Other brands in the top five are Hyundai, Ford, Toyota, and Kia.
April 2024 saw 19,162 claims for the rebate, an increase of 157 percent over the same period last year. This was a record amount since the iZEV rebate program started in May 2019.
Breaking the figures down to regions, Quebec EV buyers have accounted for more than half of total claims this year, about 30,000. They are followed by Ontario and British Columbia with 12,000 claims each.
Canadian buyers can save C$5,000 on fully electric vehicles through the iZEV program. Plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) with more than 49 km of driving range qualify for $2,500. However, there is a cap of $55,000 for eligible passenger cars and $65,000 for SUVs, minivans, and pickups.
These incentives, however, have not been enough to sustain the growth in EV share of car sales in Canada. Electric vehicles’ share dropped to 11.3 percent of light vehicle registrations from 12.3 percent in Q3 2023 according to Statistics Canada.
