Toyota, Tesla dominate Canadian ZEV space

Photo: Plugin BC

Vancouver has highest ZEV market penetration in Canada, according to IHS Markit.

Despite the challenges of getting delivery of a new car of any kind, due to the legacy of supply chain problems, the market share of zero emission vehicles in Canada ticked up in 2021 to 5.6%, with B.C. leading the country at 13%.

When hybrids are included, the number is 11.8% Canada-wide.

According IHS Markit, the market share of zero emission vehicles (ZEV) in Canada, based on new vehicles registrations, increased from 3.8% in 2020 to 5.6% in 2021.

“British Columbia leads the way with adoption of electrification, and ZEVs account for 13% of all new light vehicles for 2021 in the province,” IHS Markit’s latest Automotive Insights reports.

That’s up from a 9.4% market share in 2020 and 8.6% in 2019.

“B.C. volume represents 28% of all ZEV registrations in Canada and volume grew 57%.”

The market share of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles in Canada, based on new vehicles registrations, fell from 94% in 2019 to 88% in 2021, while ZEV registrations increased from 4% in 2019 to 11.8% in 2021.

Among ZEVs, hybrid electric vehicles dominate in Canada at a 6.2% market share, followed by full battery electric at 3.8% and plug-in hybrid electrics at 1.8%. The market share for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles increased from zero in 2019 and 2020 to 0.01% in 2021.

Hybrid electric vehicles are generally classed as a zero emission vehicles, even though they do burn gasoline to generate electricity, albeit a lot less than an ICE vehicle, since electricity is also produced with regenerative braking. Plug-in hybrid electrics use even less gasoline, running mostly on electricity.

The B.C. government offers a $3,000 rebate for pure battery electric vehicles or long range plug-in hybrid electric, but only $1,500 for shorter range plug-in hybrid electrics.

Vancouver has the highest market share of ZEVs in Canada, at 15%, followed by Montreal at 10.7% and Toronto at 4.3%.

As for brands, according to Automotive Insights, Toyota dominates the ZEV space in Canada, though Tesla dominates the pure battery electric space.

There are 45,401 Toyota hybrid electrics registered in Canada, 9,317 Toyota plug-in hybrid electrics, 126 Toyota fuel cell vehicles, and 32,262 Tesla pure battery electric vehicles.