Canada’s ZEV adoption rate stuck in single digits as June sales stay muted

Desmond Milligan · August 18

Zero-emission vehicle sales in Canada retreated for the fifth straight month in June, as buyers kept to the sidelines following the end of the $5,000 federal consumer incentive program in January.

Electric and plug-in hybrid vehicle sales totaled 14,090 in June, down 35.2 per cent from the same month a year ago, according to the latest data from Statistics Canada.

That is despite gains in the wider market. Overall vehicle sales climbed 6.2 per cent to 177,313 in June, according to the federal agency. The figures include all vehicle classes.

ZEV sales in Canada stumbled to start 2025, as long-time federal and provincial incentive programs ran out of cash or faced policy changes, and have yet to bounce back. They accounted for 7.9 per cent of all vehicles sold in Canada in June, down from 13 per cent in the same month of 2024 and far short of the monthly high of nearly 20 per cent in December.

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Auto experts see little prospect of a short-term turnaround if the government does not step back in with rebates.

Steve Flamand, CEO of Hyundai Auto Canada Corp., said the company is selling about half as many EVs as it did in 2024.

“Until there’s a better balance between the transaction price and the government’s appetite to electrify, it’s going to be difficult,” he told Automotive News Canada.

Ottawa has vowed repeatedly since the April election that it will revive its ZEV rebate program, but has yet to provide a timeline.

Cara Clairman, CEO of EV advocacy group Plug ‘N Drive, said the pledge has put buyers in a holding pattern.

“If the rebate’s going to come back in a month, or two months, I would be stupid to buy a car now when I could get $5,000 — or something in that ballpark — off in a few months’ time,” she said on the Automotive News Canada Podcast.

— Greg Layson contributed to this report.

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