An electric vehicle is charged in Ottawa on Wednesday, July 13, 2022. Electric vehicle sales in Canada grew by more than one-third in the first half of this year but they're not keeping pace with the rest of the world. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
OTTAWA – Electric-vehicle sales in Canada grew by more than one third in the first half of this year but they are not keeping pace with the rest of the world.
A new report on global EV sales released by research firm BloombergNEF at the United Nations climate talks in Egypt today says automakers sold 6.6 million battery-electric and plug-in hybrid passenger vehicles in the first six months of this year.
That is an increase of 61 per cent compared to the same period in 2021, driven heavily by interest in China and Europe.
Electric vehicles accounted for nearly one in every eight vehicles sold worldwide between January and June, compared with one in 11 in the same period a year earlier.
But in Canada, EV sales made up one in 14 vehicles sold in the first half of this year, compared with one in 20 a year earlier.
The sale of electric vehicles did hit a six-month record in Canada so far this year with nearly 56,000 sold, an increase of 35 per cent compared with the year before.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 17, 2022.
