Published jointly by Transport Canada and the government-industry ZEV Council panel, the dashboard offers at-a-glance information on the country’s EV transition

The federal government has released a new EV market share and charging station tracker called the ZEV Council Dashboard.

The online tool is a major step in transparency. It brings together data from several sources for light-, medium- and heavy-duty EV adoption and charging station availability into one database.

“Developed in collaboration with the ZEV Council, this dashboard provides quarterly updates on new light-duty and medium- and heavy-duty zero-emission vehicle market share, data on incentive program uptake, and information on the deployment of charging and hydrogen refuelling stations, including federal investments in this space,” reads the online tool’s website.

The ZEV Council was formed in 2023 to facilitate discussions, strategies and solutions “to speed-up the switch to zero-emission vehicles.”

For just Q1 2024, Quebec and British Columbia were, by a wide margin, the leaders in light-duty EV registrations in Canada at 28.3 per cent and 22.7 per cent, respectively.

The disclosure reveals that market penetration of light-duty EVs is also high in Yukon (11.4 per cent). The territory was the third highest-adopting jurisdiction in Canada in Q1 2024. Prince Edward Island (8.2 per cent) and Ontario (7.9 per cent) round out the top five spots.

On the medium- and heavy-duty vehicle (MHDV) side, the Dashboard shows Yukon leading in market share in Q1 2024 at 4.2 per cent. Quebec was next at 3.5 per cent.

In total, Canada had 418,800 new battery-electric passenger vehicle registrations. As of January 2024 there were 4,590 new electric MHDVs registrations.

Finally, iZEV rebate claims totalled more than 160,000 between 2023 and 2024 year-to-date.

Charging stations to EVs ratio

The Dashboard also presents the ratio between public charging stations and EVs across Canada.

The national average (including battery-electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles) is 24 EVs per port.

Quebec has the most public EV chargers with 4,114 stations (1,577 DC fast charger ports and 8,126 Level 2 ports). Northwest Territories has the fewest with just three EV charging stations (two DC fast charger ports and two L2s).

In total, the government has funded 46,244 charging ports across Canada. The vast majority are in planning stages.

Alberta deep dive

In addition to a greater breadth of data the ZEV Council Dashboard, recent information from Alberta shows adoption rates are rising in one of Canada’s more EV-reluctant provinces.

Alberta saw a 59 per cent rise in battery electric vehicle registrations between March 2023 and March 2024.

The data, disclosed on July 29, 2024, shows Alberta had 14,851 EVs registered in the province as of March 31, 2024 — up from the 9,338 EVs registered as of March 31, 2023.

Alberta’s EV data is not broken out in Statistics Canada’s quarterly reports tracking motor vehicle registrations across the country. However the numbers are included in StatsCan’s national tally and, now, on the Dashboard.