Canada’s electric vehicle sales grew by more than one-third in the first half of 2022. However, they’re not keeping up with the rest of the world, as per National Observer.
A report on global EV sales released by BloombergNEF at the UN climate talks in Egypt said battery-electric and plug-in hybrid passenger vehicles accounted for almost one in every eight vehicles sold between January and June worldwide.
That compares with one in 11 in the same period last year. Total sales for the period hit 4.3 million, a 70% increase over 2021. BloombergNEF says they’re on a path to reach 10.6 million vehicles by the end of 2022, which would be 61% more than in 2021.
Between January and June, 56% of global sales were made in China, 28% in Europe and 11% in the US.
Meanwhile, Canada amounted to about 1.5% of all global vehicle sales and was home to less than 1% of all EV sales.
Canada catching up on electric vehicles
The BloombergNEF report stated Canada is among the countries “catching up” on EVs.
Statistics Canada data show EVs made up one in 14 new vehicles registered in the first half of 2022, compared with one in 20 a year earlier.
Electric vehicle sales hit a six-month record in Canada at almost 56,000 sold this year, an increase of 35% compared with the previous year.
However, that is not on pace with the growth worldwide. Canada aims to have 60% of all new vehicles be electric by 2030 and 100% by 2035.
The EV total would have to grow from 55,600 to about 480,000 over six months to hit that 60% target based on average new vehicle registrations.
President of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association, Brian Kingston, said the lack of public charging is holding back Canadian demand.
“We are not currently a leader on EV readiness,” said Kingston. “If Canada wants to be a leader and really accelerate EV adoption we have to take readiness seriously.”
That view is supported by the annual electric vehicle readiness index, published by global accounting firm EY, which noted Canada as 13th out of 14 countries measured this year. A year ago, Canada was 8th.
The EY report said charging infrastructure and the high cost of EVs are holding Canada back.
The Canadian Automobile Association notes 80 models of battery-electric vehicles with an average cost of $82,000.
Kingston said the government’s EV rebates need to be higher. Canada offers up to $5,000 off EV costs with no more than $55,000 of the base price.
Provincial rebates
In addition, British Columbia and Quebec have provincial rebates that get layered on top of that. Advocates and experts say it’s not an accident that those are also the places with the highest sales.
B.C., where nearly one in six vehicles registered between January and June was electric, is the only jurisdiction in Canada surpassing the 13% of global sales mark. And Quebec follows at 11.4$%, but there is a big drop-off to third-place Ontario, where 5.5% of new vehicle registrations between January and June were electric.
Notably, Ontario had a rebate until 2018, after which sales slowed down.
