An EV charging station in Ottawa in February. There were roughly 21,500 sales of new zero-emission vehicles in Canada this March, an increase of 75 per cent from a year earlier.Keito Newman/The Globe and Mail
Honda may be shelving its plan for an electric-vehicle production complex in Canada, but demand for EVs is officially on the upswing.
In March, there were roughly 21,500 sales of new zero-emission vehicles, an increase of 75 per cent from a year earlier, and the highest sum since late 2024, according to Statistics Canada figures published Thursday.
Around 12 per cent of all new vehicles sold in March were zero-emission cars – much stronger than last year, but still lower than peak levels.
The EV market is getting a boost from the reinstatement of federal consumer incentives in February, which offer subsidies of up to $5,000 for the purchase or lease of battery electric and fuel cell EVs, with various caveats in effect. Ottawa has allocated $2.3-billion in funding over five years; the incentive value is highest in 2026 and drops over time, which could pull forward demand.
Another consideration for vehicle shoppers is gasoline. Those prices have surged over the past couple months, owing to the Iran war and throttled shipments of crude oil through the Strait of Hormuz. As of Thursday, the national average price of regular unleaded gas was $1.98 a litre, up 40 per cent since the end of February, according to data from Kalibrate Technologies.
But while consumer interest in EVs is perking up, the Canadian auto industry is under duress as it contends with U.S. tariffs and the high-stakes review of the North American trade pact later this year. Total auto production in Canada fell by 5.4 per cent in 2025 from 2024, according to a report from Toronto-Dominion Bank.
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