More than 375,000 zero-emission vehicles now registered in Quebec
With the reduction in provincial subsidies due to come into effect on January 1, 2025, Quebecers have been buying electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles in large numbers in the last few months of 2024.
New vehicle registrations reached 38,392 in the fourth quarter and 124,104 for the year as a whole, up 11.36% and no less than 49.22% respectively on 2023, according to the latest SAAQ statistics compiled by the Association des véhicules électriques du Québec (AVEQ).
What's more, Statistics Canada tells us that zero-emission vehicles accounted for 40.01% of all new vehicles sold in Quebec in the last quarter.
As of December 31, 2024, the total number of zero-emission vehicles registered in the province stood at 376,246, including 71% electric models and 29% plug-in hybrids. This is nearly one-fifth of the Quebec government's target of 2 million vehicles by 2030.
The five most popular models in Quebec are :
- Tesla Model 3 – 8%
- Tesla Model Y – 6,7%
- Hyundai Kona électrique – 5,8%
- Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV – 4,7%
- Toyota Prius Prime – 4,2%
- Toyota RAV4 Prime – 4,1%
- Hyundai IONIQ 5 – 4%
- Chevrolet Bolt EV – 3,9%
- Chevrolet Equinox EV – 3,8%
- Nissan LEAF – 3,3%
If current progress continues, AVEQ calculates that there could be 2 million zero-emission vehicles on our roads by July 2029, and around 2.86 million by the end of 2030. That's a big “if”, of course. The reduction and then suspension of government incentives and the uncertainty surrounding tariffs, not to mention Tesla's poor image at the moment, will have a major impact on the 2025 figures. In the longer term, the possible arrival of Chinese electric vehicles on the Canadian market is another major variable.
