Big news at the provincial level, meanwhile: for the first time ever, Quebec and B.C. tied for the largest ZEV market share, at 21.4 per cent

The market share of battery-electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles in Canada was an even 12 per cent in the last three months of 2023, according to Statistics Canada’s latest report on new vehicle registrations.

This compares to a 12.3 per cent market share in Q3 (this figure was revised upward from the 12.1 percent StatsCan initially reported last December).

Broken down further, battery-electric vehicle (BEV) registrations in Q4 were at 9 per cent, down from 9.3 per cent in Q3, while plug-in hybrid (PHEV) registrations held steady at 3 per cent.

In volume terms, the total number of BEVs registered in Q4 was 38,528, down from 42,589 in Q3. The total of all light-duty vehicle registrations in Canada in Q4 was 427,884, down from 457,296 in Q3.

The StatsCan data also show that in Q4 the share of ZEV registrations in Quebec and British Columbia were tied, at 21.4 per cent. This is the first time that B.C. hasn’t been first on its own in ZEV market share among the provinces.

First full year ZEVs top 10 per cent

For 2023 in total, StatsCan reports that the BEV market share was 8.1 per cent, compared to 6.5 per cent in 2022. The full-year PHEV share of registrations was 2.6 per cent, up from 1.7 per cent in 2022.

For ZEV registrations overall, this means 2023 was the first year of double-digit market penetration — specifically, at 10.8 per cent market share, up from 8.2 per cent in 2022.

(Note: StatsCan classifies BEVs and PHEVs as “zero-emission vehicles.” The grouping does not reflect Electric Autonomy’s view, which considers only non-combustion engine vehicles to be zero-emission. However, where statistics below refer to ZEVs, we have adhered to StatsCan’s definition for consistency.)

Of course, for ZEVs to gain share, others must decline. To that end, StatsCan says the market share of gasoline-powered vehicles fell to 77 per cent in 2023, down from 81.5 per cent in 2022, 86 per cent in 2021 and 89.6 per cent in 2020.

Quebec surges into tie with B.C.

As noted, both Quebec and B.C. posted a 21.4 ZEV market share in Q4, the first time that B.C. hasn’t held the top spot on its own. In Q3, B.C.’s share was 23.2 per cent, while Quebec’s was 20.9 per cent.

Ontario’s ZEV market share in Q4 was 8.2 per cent, unchanged from Q3.

On a volume basis, Quebec has been the market leader in terms of ZEV registrations for some time. In Q4, the province registered 22,378 ZEVs. Ontario placed second at 13,975, followed by B.C. at 10,749. Combined, those totals represent 92 per cent of all ZEVs registered in Canada.

For the year, StatsCan says 91.8 per cent of ZEVs were registered in these three provinces. In its release summary, StatsCan writes: “In 2023, among the three largest provinces, Quebec comprised 41.8% of all ZEV registrations, followed by Ontario (27.0%) and British Columbia (23.1%).”

For 2023 on a percentage basis, ZEVs made up 20.2 per cent of new motor vehicle registrations in B.C., 18.6 per cent in Quebec and 7.4 per cent in Ontario.

As with previous StatsCan reports, no breakout data for Alberta, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador is available (due to contractual restrictions), but the registration numbers for those provinces appear in the national total.