Plug-in electric vehicles in Canada

Articles about plug-in electric vehicles in individual provinces and territories:

• Alberta
• British Columbia
• Manitoba
• New Brunswick
• Newfoundland and Labrador
• Northwest Territories
• Nova Scotia
• Ontario
• Prince Edward Island
• Quebec
• Saskatchewan
• Yukon

The Canadian government provides a rebate of C$5000 to the purchase of an electric vehicle.^[4]

In January 2009, Hydro-Québec and Mitsubishi signed an agreement to test 50 i-MiEV, at the time, the largest pilot test of electric cars in Canada ever. The test's goal was to allow a better understanding of winter usage of the technology. BC-Hydro and Mitsubishi had previously tested a three-vehicle fleet in British Columbia.^[5] In October 2010, Transport Canada and Mitsubishi Motor Sales of Canada announced a partnership to test the Mitsubishi i-MiEV. Transport Canada's ecoTECHNOLOGY for Vehicles (eTV) Program tested two i-MiEVs in government facilities and in a variety of real-world conditions. This program aim was to evaluate the i-MiEV road performance and range.^[6] Retail sales of the i-MiEV began in December 2011,^[7][8]

The Nissan Leaf roll-out in Canada began with fleet customers on July 29, 2011,^[9] and deliveries to individuals began in late September 2011.^[10][11] As of December 2011^[update], the Leaf was sold only through 27 Leaf-certified dealers for the entire country, and sales were limited to customers who live within a 65 km (40 mi) radius of one of those dealers.^[12] Cumulative sales through December 2014 reached 1,965 units, and, as of December 2014^[update], the Leaf ranked as the top selling all-electric car in the country.^[13][14]

Retail sales of the Tesla Model S began in 2012, with 95 cars delivered that year. A total of 638 units were sold in 2013, and cumulative sales reached 1,580 units through December 2014, allowing the Model S to rank as the second best selling all-electric car in the country.^[13][15] During 2014 the BMW i3, Kia Soul EV, BMW i8 and Porsche 918 Spyder were introduced in the Canadian market.^[13] The top selling models in 2015 were the Tesla Model S with 2,010 units, followed by the Chevrolet Volt with 1,463, the Nissan Leaf with 1,233, the BMW i3 with 367, and the Kia Soul EV with 318.^[16] In 2015, the Model S passed the Nissan Leaf as the all-time best selling all-electric car in Canada.^[17][18]

The all-electric Renault Twizy 40 low-speed quadricycle was certified by Transport Canada in March 2016, and was scheduled to be released on the Canadian market by mid-2016.^[19]

British Columbia is the only place in the country where it is legal to drive a low-speed vehicle (LSV) electric car on public roads, although it also requires low speed warning marking and flashing lights. Quebec is allowing LSVs in a three-year pilot project. These cars will not be allowed on the highway, but will be allowed on city streets.^{[citation needed]}

There were 18,451 highway legal plug-in electric cars registered in Canada as of December 2015^[update], of which, 10,034 (54%) are all-electric cars and 8,417 (46%) are plug-in hybrids. These figures include some used imports from the U.S.^[20] Until 2014 Canadian sales were evenly split between all-electric cars (50.8)% and plug-in hybrids (49.2%).^[13]

The Chevrolet Volt, released in 2011, is the all-time top selling plug-in electric vehicle in the country, with cumulative sales of 6,387 units through May 2015 (representing over 30% of all plug-in cars sold in the country).^[21][16][22] Ranking second is the Tesla Model S with 4,160 units sold through April 2016, followed by the Nissan Leaf with 3,692 units delivered as of May 2016^[update].^[21][16][14] The Model S was the top selling plug-in electric car in Canada in 2015 with 2,010 units sold.^[16][20]

A total of 1,969 plug-in cars were sold in 2012, up from 521 in 2011. Sales climbed 57.7% in 2013 to 3,106 units, and in 2014 were up 63.0% from 2013 to 5,062 units, reaching cumulative sales of 10,658 plug-in cars through December 2014. The market share of the plug-in electric car segment grew from 0.03% in 2011, to 0.12% in 2012, and reached 0.27% of new car sales in the country in 2014.^[13] Cumulative sales reached the 30,000 unit mark in January 2017.^[23]

The following table presents new car sales by year of all the highway-capable plug-in electric cars available in Canada between 2011 and December 2015.