Subsidy’s swansong: Canadian plug-in sales take a dip

2018 Nissan Leaf SLAfter generous tax credits expired in Canada’s largest province of Ontario, September, not April, turned out to be the coldest month for electric-car sales North of the Border. The tax credit was worth up to $10,000 ($14,000 Canadian.) British Columbia was a bright spot, with the provincial government announcing plans to maintain current...

Post-Peak: plug-in electric-car sales in Canada for July

Tesla Model 3 bought [Photo by reader AH]Sales data for plug-in cars in Canada in June and July show the effect of large purchase incentives. In its first full month of availability in Canada in June, the Tesla Model 3 racked up 2,329 sales, shattering the country’s monthly record for electric-car sales and making it the 16th bestselling car in the country overall. According to...

Tesla dominated electric-car sales in Canada in June

Canadian reader K's new Tesla Model 3Electric cars accounted for nearly 3 percent of all passenger vehicles sold in Canada in June, thanks to a surge of Tesla Model 3 deliveries. With the California-based automaker famously coy about country-by-country deliveries, June delivery data won’t be finalized until later this month. (Several other automakers also decline to break out...

Tesla Model 3: 456 sales in May Canadian debut

Tesla Model 3 bought [Photo by reader AH]Tesla started off Model 3 sales in Canada in May with a bang and sold 456 cars after a flurry of deliveries at the end of the month, according to vehicle registration data compiled by IHS Auto. Model 3 sales in Canada continued building through June. The evidence points to Tesla boosting Model 3 deliveries to Canada for two reasons. First, sending...

British Columbia opens first hydrogen filling station in Canada

First hydrogen filling station opens in Canada, in Vancouver, British ColumbiaCanada’s first retail hydrogen fueling station opened on Friday June 15 in Vancouver, part of a network of eight hydrogen stations expected in British Columbia in the next two years. By 2020, the program will add hydrogen dispensers at five retail stations in Metro Vancouver and one station in the provincial capital of Victoria. A seventh...

Plug-in Electric Car Sales in Canada, May 2018: Rewriting records

2018 Nissan LeafLast month, the Mitsubishi Outlander plug-in hybrid set a new single-month sales record for plug-in electric vehicles in Canada and sold 589 units. One month later, that sales pace—plus one car—is only good enough for fourth place. Nissan shattered Mitsubishi’s record in May with 906 sales of its Leaf electric car, astounding by...

Electric-car buyers want same things as all car buyers, research shows

2016 Toyota Mirai hydrogen fuel-cell car, Newport Beach, CA, Nov 2014It should come as no surprise to readers of this site that people who buy electric cars are normal people. A new study by Simon Frasier University in British Columbia adds to the body of evidence demonstrating that, though it comes to some unusual conclusions. The 2017 study examined 2,123 Canadians who planned to buy a new vehicle in the next...

Plug-in electric car sales in Canada, March 2018: Prius Prime rivals Volt

2017 Toyota Prius Prime and 2017 Chevrolet Volt with Green Car Reports editor John VoelckerThe Chevy Volt won its umpteenth monthly plug-in sales title in Canada last month, but soaring sales of other models were the big story in the Canuck electric vehicle market—which may have reached 1.75 percent of the market in March. The Volt tallied 555 March sales, Canada’s second-best single-month total for any model, second only to...

Tesla sales: how much do rebates matter to buyers in Canada?

2013 Tesla Model S on Chilcotin Highway, Canada [photo: owner Vincent Argiro]The government of Ontario amended its plug-in electric vehicle incentive program in March, eliminating incentives for vehicles with a recommended price of $75,000 or more. What effect will this have on demand for Tesla’s Model S and X? Two years ago, this site analyzed the impacts on electric-car sales in British Columbia when funding for...

Tesla sales: how much do rebates matter to buyers in Canada?

2013 Tesla Model S on Chilcotin Highway, Canada [photo: owner Vincent Argiro]The government of Ontario amended its plug-in electric vehicle incentive program in March, eliminating incentives for vehicles with a recommended price of $75,000 or more. What effect will this have on demand for Tesla’s Model S and X? Two years ago, this site analyzed the impacts on electric-car sales in British Columbia when funding for...

Plug-in electric car sales in Canada, Feb 2018: turning over new Leafs

2018 Nissan Leaf with EVgo fast charger at NJ Turnpike Molly Pitcher travel plaza, Feb 2018Cumulative Canadian plug-in electric vehicle sales surpassed 50,000 units in February, aided by the second-generation 2018 Nissan Leaf, which sold 179 units in its “rookie” month. Unfortunately for the world’s best-selling plug-in electric vehicle (and third-best in Canada), its tally was beaten by both the Volkswagen e-Golf and...

What if car buyers aren’t ready for electric cars, even in California?

Tesla Supercharger site in Vacaville, California, before expansion    [photo: George Parrott]It's accepted wisdom among electric-car fans and advocates that within a few years, mass-market car buyers will start snapping up battery-electric cars. First, battery prices have to come down to the point that electric vehicles aren't much pricier than comparable models with gasoline engines. But what it that assumption simply isn't backed up by...

Awake at the wheel: Tesla is far from alone in electric trucks

Tesla SemiThis time, Elon Musk is not alone. In mid-December, Daimler delivered its first 14 Fuso eCanter electric delivery trucks to customers in Germany, a reminder that while Tesla caught car companies flat-footed in 2012, incumbent truck makers are already preparing their countermeasures. In Daimler’s case, these weren’t even the...

Plug-in electric car sales in Canada, Nov 2017: the vaulting Chevy Volt

2017 Chevrolet Volt in Vancouver, BC, CanadaA record 582 Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrids were sold in Canada last month, two months after Chevy delivered a then-record 483 Volts in September. The achievement is even more impressive considering Canadian car sales dropped by 15 percent between the two months, as the industry enters its slow season. The November Volt sales are more than the 536...

Plug-in electric car sales in Canada, Oct 2017: Chevy’s dominant duo

2018 Chevrolet Bolt EV electric car and 2018 Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybridThe dominant duo of the Chevy Volt and Bolt EV continued their winning ways in the Canadian market for new plug-in electric cars during October. Chevrolet sold 424 Volts to start the fourth quarter, down slightly from 483 in September. The vehicle’s 3,431 sales through October all but tied last year’s total of 3,469 and the Volt may...