(Ottawa) Significantly more Canadians were driving zero-emission vehicles in the first quarter compared to last year, and Quebec continues to lead in this regard.
Statistics Canada says registrations of zero-emission vehicles in the country jumped 53% in the first quarter year over year.
The agency says battery electric vehicles accounted for 73% of total zero-emission vehicle registrations, while plug-in hybrids accounted for 27%.
Overall, the agency says new vehicle registrations increased 16.6% year over year in the first quarter, but were down 3.1% compared to the fourth quarter of 2023.
It added that van registrations fell just over 8%, the first year-over-year quarterly decline for this vehicle type, following seven consecutive increases.
In the first quarter, 47.6% of all zero-emission vehicle registrations were made in Quebec, representing a number of 22,231 vehicles. Ontario follows at 23.3%, followed by British Columbia at 21.1%.
This is a 90.7% increase in the number of new zero-emission vehicles having been registered in Quebec compared to the same quarter of the previous year.
The increase was 29% in Ontario, 111.4% in New Brunswick, 38.2% in Prince Edward Island.
