Canada lagging behind the rest of the world

(Ottawa) Sales of electric vehicles in Canada rose by more than a 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 electric vehicle sales released by research firm BloombergNEF during COP27 in Egypt on Thursday shows automakers sold 6.6 million battery-electric and plug-in hybrid passenger vehicles in the first six months. month of this year.

This represents a 61% increase compared to the same period in 2021, strongly driven by interest from China and Europe.

Electric vehicles accounted for nearly one in eight vehicles sold worldwide between January and June, compared to one in eleven in the same period a year earlier.

However, in Canada, electric vehicle sales accounted for one in fourteen vehicles in the first half of this year, up from one in twenty a year earlier.

Electric vehicle sales hit a six-month high in Canada so far this year, with nearly 56,000 vehicles sold, a 35% increase from the previous year.