Quebec leads the country, and all-electric medium- and heavy-duty trucks make gains

The most recent Canadian auto market data from S&P Global shows new zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) registrations in Q3 2025 reached 10.4 per cent market share — up slightly from 9.2 per cent in Q2. 

The Q3 uptick was due in large part to Quebec and its “long-standing, ZEV-focused incentives and deeply ingrained consumer mindset,” according to the report. 

The story for the rest of Canada reads differently. 

Battery-electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles are taking a backseat to a non-ZEV option showing the effects of the federal government’s pause on its iZEV incentive program in January last year continue to be felt.

“Outside of Quebec and the balanced battleground of British Columbia, ZEVs are struggling to compete against the compelling value proposition of hybrids,” says the report.

Specifically, Quebec led Canadian provinces with a 20.2 per cent ZEV sales share; British Columbia is second with 16.7 per cent. Surprisingly, Yukon took third place at 6.8 per cent, with Ontario dropping to fourth at 6.6 per cent. Prince Edward Island rounds out the top five in Q3 2025 at 6.4 per cent. 

(Note: S&P Global Mobility, like Statistics Canada, 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 in this report refer to ZEVs, we have adhered to the S&P Global Mobility definition for consistency.)

S&P Global released its Canadian Q3 data last week, while StatsCan released its numbers in December.

Electric commercial fleets sales go up

There is some good news when it comes to the electrification of Canada’s medium- and heavy-duty truck sector, with market gains in various vehicle classes. Starting with the largest, battery electric Class 8 commercial trucks jumped from just 0.28 per cent market share in Q2 up to 2.31 per cent in Q3 for a nearly tenfold increase. 

Class 3 BEVs also rose, up to 2.44 per cent in Q3 2025 from 1.25 per cent in Q2. “This acceleration suggests that the business case for electrification in last-mile and vocational applications is strengthening, moving from early adopters to broader fleet consideration,” says the report. 

In what S&P Global calls the most mature commercial segment, Class 2B — larger cargo vans — rose slightly from 2.1 per cent market share to 2.3 per cent. 

All other commercial classes remain under the 1 per cent mark in BEV uptake, with small fluctuations that reveal how “adoption is driven by large, periodic orders rather than a steady, market-wide flow.”

Adoption of fuel-cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) remains at zero. 

“In contrast to the consumer market, the medium and heavy-duty vehicle sector showed signs of a direct leap to battery-electric technology in specific use cases,” reads the report. “A nearly tenfold surge in Class 8 BEV penetration, while small in absolute terms, signals that if the business case is strong, commercial fleets are willing to bypass transitional steps and make significant, concentrated bets on a fully electric future.”