Electric vehicle sales drop as Canadians embrace hybrids: StatCan

An electric vehicle is charged in Ottawa on Wednesday, July 13, 2022. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick)

Canadians appear to be buying fewer electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, according to new data from Statistics Canada.

While new vehicle registrations were up 5.9 per cent in the second quarter of 2025 compared to the previous year, new registrations for battery electric vehicles dropped by 39.2 per cent in the same period, while registrations for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles fell by 2.2 per cent.

New registrations of hybrid electric vehicles, meanwhile, surged by 60.7 per cent over the second quarter of 2024. Unlike electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, which need to be charged via an external power source, gasoline-powered hybrid electric vehicles are completely self-charging.

Despite auto tariffs and affordability concerns, a total of 541,566 new vehicles were registered in the second quarter of 2025, which was the highest number of new quarterly registrations since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. In terms of vehicle type, the largest increase was noted in vans, with new registrations up by 29 per cent.

There was also a 29.5 per cent decrease in registrations of new zero-emission vehicles in the same period. These 46,366 vehicles accounted for 8.6 per cent of all new registrations in the second quarter of 2025, down from 18.3 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Statistics Canada points to declining zero-emission vehicle rebates to help explain the drop in electric vehicle sales. For example, Quebec reduced such financial incentives in 2025, while B.C. halted its rebate program in May, leading to fewer zero-emission vehicle registrations in both provinces. The only province that saw an increase in new zero-emission vehicle registrations was new Brunswick, but that increase was slight at 1.6 per cent.