Plug-in electric vehicles in Canada
The stock of plug-in electric passenger cars in Canada in use totaled 141,060 units at the end of 2019, consisting of 78,680 all-electric cars and 62,380 plug-in hybrids. Sales totaled 50,960 units in 2019. The Chevrolet Volt was the top selling plug-in hybrid, with cumulative sales of 13,619 units through December 2017, and the Tesla Model S was the top selling all-electric car with 6,731 units as of December 2017. Quebec is the regional market leader in Canada, with about 11,000 plug-in electric cars registered , of which, 55 % are plug-in hybrids. Registrations in the province totaled 3,100 units in 2015, representing a market share of 0.7% of new car sales, and 45% of total Canadian plug-in electric car sales that year. Government incentives. Purchase incentives for new plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) were established in Ontario consisting of a rebate between CA$5,000 (4 kWh battery) to $8,500 (17 kWh or more), depending on battery size, for purchasing or leasing a new PEV after July 1, 2010. The rebates were available to the first 10,000 applicants who qualify. The province also introduced green-coloured licence plates  for exclusive use of plug-in hybrids and battery electric vehicles. These unique green vehicle plates allow PEV owners to travel in the province's carpool lanes until 2015 regardless of the number of passengers in the vehicle. Also, owners are eligible to use recharging stations at GO Transit and other provincially owned parking lots. Quebec began offering rebates of up to $8,000 beginning on January 1, 2012, for the purchase of new plug-in electric vehicles equipped with a minimum of 4 kWh battery, and new hybrid electric vehicles are eligible for a $1,000 rebate. All-electric  vehicles with high-capacity battery packs were eligible for the full $8,000 rebate, and incentives were reduced for low-range electric cars and plug-in hybrids. Quebec's government earmarked $50 million for the program, and the maximum rebate amount was set to be slowly reduced every year until a maximum of $3,000 in 2015, but the rebates would continue until the fund runs out. There was also a ceiling for the maximum number of eligible vehicles: 10,000 for all-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, and 5,000 for conventional hybrids. In November 2013, the provincial government  announced its decision to earmark in 2014 an additional $65 million to fund a three-year extension to the electric-vehicle rebate program. The maximum rebate was kept at $8,000, but a graded scale was introduced in order to spread the incentive over 10,000 or more vehicles. Quebec's government also set the goal to deploy 12,500 more electric vehicles in the province by 2017, consisting of 10,200 consumer cars, 325 taxis, and 2,000 government-fleet vehicles. Also, incentives were issued for "greening" 525 taxis, aimed to introduce 325 plug-in vehicles (275 plug-in hybrids and 50  all-electrics) and 200 conventional hybrids. The purchase incentives start at $20,000 for battery-electric taxis, $12,000 for plug-in hybrids, and $3,000 for conventional hybrids, with the rebate declining over time. The province planned to also subsidize the deployment of charging stations for taxis. In October 2016, the National Assembly of Quebec passed a new zero emission vehicle legislation that obliges any carmaker who sells in the Canadian province more than 4,500 new vehicles per year over a three-year average, to offer their customers a minimum number of plug-in hybrid and all-electric models . Under the new law, 3.5% of the total number of autos sold by carmakers in Quebec have to be zero emissions vehicles (ZEV) starting in 2018, rising to 15.5% in 2020. A tradable credit system was created for those carmakers not fulfilling their quotas to avoid financial penalties. The quotas will be determined by Quebec's Ministry of Sustainable Development. Quebec became the first Canadian province to pass such legislation, joining ten U.S. states, including California, that have similar ZEV laws. Quebec aims to have 100,000 zero emission vehicles on the road by 2020. Initially, the provincial government set the  goal in 2011 to have 300,000 plug-in vehicles on the roads by 2020. In 2011, British Columbia announced the "LiveSmart BC" program which will start offering rebates of up to $5,000 per eligible clean energy vehicle commencing on December 1, 2011. The incentives will be available until March 31, 2013, or until available funding is depleted, whichever comes first. Available funds are enough to provide incentives for approximately 1,370 vehicles. Battery electric vehicles, fuel cell vehicles and plug-in hybrids with battery capacity of 15.0 kWh and above are eligible for a $5,000 incentive. Also effective December  1, 2011, rebates of up to $500 per qualifying electric vehicle charging equipment will be available to B.C. residents who have purchased a clean energy vehicle. Taxation. In its 2021–22 budget, the province of Saskatchewan announced that all electric vehicles will be subject to an annual road usage fee of $150 per-year, because electric vehicles do not contribute to fuel taxes that are used to fund highway maintenance. The tax has faced criticism from electric vehicle owners and from Regina mayor Sandra Masters for deterring electric vehicle ownership. The fee came into force on October 1, 2021 . Models available. In January 2009, Hydro-Québec and Mitsubishi signed an agreement to test 50 i-MiEV, at the time, the largest pilot test of electric cars in Canada ever. The test's goal was to allow a better understanding of winter usage of the technology. BC-Hydro and Mitsubishi had previously tested a three-vehicle fleet in British Columbia. In October 2010, Transport Canada and Mitsubishi Motor Sales of Canada announced a partnership to test the Mitsubishi i-MiEV. Transport Canada's ecoTECHNOLOGY for Vehicles (eTV) Program tested two i-MiEVs in government facilities and in a variety of  real-world conditions. This program aim was to evaluate the i-MiEV road performance and range. Retail sales of the i-MiEV began in December 2011, The Nissan Leaf roll-out in Canada began with fleet customers on July 29, 2011, and deliveries to individuals began in late September 2011. , the Leaf was sold only through 27 Leaf-certified dealers for the entire country, and sales were limited to customers who live within a radius of one of those dealers. Cumulative sales through December 2014 reached 1,965 units, and, , the Leaf ranked as the top selling all-electric car in  the country. Retail sales of the Tesla Model S began in 2012, with 95 cars delivered that year. A total of 638 units were sold in 2013, and cumulative sales reached 1,580 units through December 2014, allowing the Model S to rank as the second best selling all-electric car in the country. During 2014 the BMW i3, Kia Soul EV, BMW i8 and Porsche 918 Spyder were introduced in the Canadian market. The top selling models in 2015 were the Tesla Model S with 2,010 units, followed by the Chevrolet Volt with 1,463, the Nissan Leaf with 1,233, the  BMW i3 with 367, and the Kia Soul EV with 318. In 2015, the Model S passed the Nissan Leaf as the all-time best selling all-electric car in Canada. The all-electric Renault Twizy 40 low-speed quadricycle was certified by Transport Canada in March 2016, and was scheduled to be released on the Canadian market by mid-2016. British Columbia is the only place in the country where it is legal to drive a low-speed vehicle (LSV) electric car on public roads, although it also requires low speed warning marking and flashing lights. Quebec is allowing LSVs  in a three-year pilot project. These cars will not be allowed on the highway, but will be allowed on city streets. Sales. There were 18,451 highway legal plug-in electric cars registered in Canada , of which, 10,034 (54%) are all-electric cars and 8,417 (46%) are plug-in hybrids. These figures include some used imports from the U.S. Until 2014 Canadian sales were evenly split between all-electric cars (50.8)% and plug-in hybrids (49.2%). The Chevrolet Volt, released in 2011, is the all-time top selling plug-in electric vehicle in the country, with cumulative sales of 6,387  units through May 2015 (representing over 30% of all plug-in cars sold in the country). Ranking second is the Tesla Model S with 4,160 units sold through April 2016, followed by the Nissan Leaf with 3,692 units delivered . The Model S was the top selling plug-in electric car in Canada in 2015 with 2,010 units sold. A total of 1,969 plug-in cars were sold in 2012, up from 521 in 2011. Sales climbed 57.7% in 2013 to 3,106 units, and in 2014 were up 63.0% from 2013 to 5,062 units, reaching cumulative sales of 10,658 plug-in  cars through December 2014. The market share of the plug-in electric car segment grew from 0.03% in 2011, to 0.12% in 2012, and reached 0.27% of new car sales in the country in 2014. Cumulative sales reached the 30,000 unit mark in January 2017. The following table presents new car sales by year of all the highway-capable plug-in electric cars available in Canada between 2011 and December 2015.