Market share of light-duty vehicles was 3.5 per cent by the end of the year, with Quebec and B.C. leading the country

With a year-over-year rise, zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) made up 3.5 per cent of all vehicles registered in Canada by the end of 2025, according to newly released data from Statistics Canada. 

Overall, a total of 27.6 million vehicles were registered in Canada last year, up 3.1 per cent from the previous year, and 25.3 million of those were light-duty vehicles (LDVs). Of those registrations, 623,481 were battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) and 251,520 were plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles (PHEVs).

ZEV market share for 2025 rose 27.7 per cent from the previous year. BEV registrations rose 27.9 per cent from 2024, while PHEVs grew by 27.3 per cent. 

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

China defies tariff penalties

The United States was the leading country of assembly for registered light-duty EVs in Canada, accounting for 35.6 per cent, followed by Japan (20.8 per cent) and Canada (14.9 per cent). 

Despite a 100 per cent tariff imposed on Chinese EVs in 2024, it ranked seventh among countries of assembly, accounting for 3.6 per cent of registered light-duty EVs in 2025. A total of 59,565 Chinese-assembled EVs were registered in Canada and more than nine in 10 of them were BEVs.

In January this year, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a reduction of tariffs on Chinese EVs to a most-favoured-nation rate of 6.1 per cent.

Registrations of medium-duty vehicles rose 3.8 per cent in 2025. BEVs recorded the fastest growth among medium-duty vehicles, more than quadrupling from 994 to 4,368 unit registrations. This increase was driven by larger sport-utility vehicles and pickups, coinciding with the introduction of BEV models in these segments.

Quebec, B.C. lead the country

Provincially, it was Quebec and British Columbia that carried the country, with ZEV market shares of 6.71 per cent and 5.87 per cent, respectively. Ontario was a distant third on the list at 2.37 per cent, despite a much larger number of overall registrations. 

Province	Total LDVs	BEVs	PHEVs	Total ZEVs	ZEV %
Nfld.	358,315	1,595	1,273	2,868	0.80
P.E.I.	110,754	1,189	810	1,999	1.80
N.S.	671,146	4,931	3,652	8,583	1.28
N.B.	574,177	3,904	3,668	7,572	1.32
Que.	5,698,867	268,369	114,210	382,579	6.71
Ont.	9,356,875	158,942	62,618	221,560	2.37
Man.	888,629	5,411	3,694	9,105	1.02
Sask.	862,386	2,656	2,172	4,828	0.56
Alta.	3,276,462	20,095	11,886	31,981	0.98
B.C.	3,461,187	155,977	47,259	203,236	5.87
Yukon	35,745	342	219	561	1.57
N.W.T.	23,716	68	55	123	0.52
Nunavut	4,535	2	4	6	0.13

StatsCan acknowledges that the suspension of federal ZEV incentives in January 2025 and the reduction of rebates from Quebec’s Roulez vert program were deciding factors in the relatively slower pace of growth of ZEV registrations. 

In February this year, the federal government introduced the Electric Vehicle Affordability Program (EVAP), which offers a new round of ZEV incentives. Data from StatsCan on Q2 sales shows ZEV market share is up to 10.7 per cent in 2026.