Canada’s electric vehicle adoption rate slowed precipitously in early 2025, a new report has found.
According to a report from Statistics Canada and the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, the number of registrations of zero-emission vehicles fell by more than half in the first quarter of 2025.
Just 37,229 zero-emission vehicles were registered across the country in the first three months of the year, accounting for only 8.7 percent of all new vehicle registrations. That figure marks a 54 percent drop from the previous quarter. Battery-electric vehicle registrations alone fell by 57 percent, while plug-in hybrid registrations dropped by 44 percent.
Analysts say the sharp decline is largely due to Quebec suspending its provincial EV rebate program between February 1 and March 31. Quebec had previously accounted for more than half of all EV registrations in Canada. The program resumed in April, but its temporary removal had a visible national impact.
Ontario was the only major province to report year-over-year growth, with registrations rising 8.9 percent. Smaller provinces, including Manitoba, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, also reported increases. In Saskatchewan, zero-emission vehicle registrations climbed 12.8 percent compared to the same period in 2024.
In the United States, EVs made up 9.6 percent of all new light-duty vehicle sales in the first quarter, down from 10.9 percent in the final quarter of 2024. Even so, American EV sales were up nine percent compared to the first quarter of the previous year. Automakers in both countries continue to face an infrastructure gap, with forty-two new EVs added to roads for every public charger installed.
Globally, more than seventeen million EVs were sold in 2024, representing 20 percent of all new vehicle sales. China led the way, accounting for 65 percent of global EV sales, followed by Europe with 24 percent and the United States with 10 percent.
