Tesla Model S at Cypress Mountain, British Columbia, Canada
With a “double-double” being Canadian shorthand for a coffee with two creams and two sugars, we might call September a “triple-triple”: Three plug-in electric car models hit the 100-sales mark last month.
Chevy sold 126 first-generation Volts in Canada in September, down slightly from August’s 167, but still its fourth consecutive triple-digit month. Sales have held up well in spite of the imminent second-generation car, helped by an assist from manufacturer incentives.
The 2016 Volts will be available by the end of the year in the three provinces that offer plug-in electric vehicle incentives–Quebec, which accounts for almost three-quarters of the Volt’s Canadian sales, Ontario, and British Columbia–with availability extending to the rest of Canada in 2017.
DON’T MISS: U.S. Plug-In Electric Car Sales In Sep: Waiting On Better 2016 Models
Nissan sold a monthly-record 144 Leafs, topping August’s 124 units and the previous record of 127 set in April.
The 2016 Leaf–with a larger 30-kilowatt-hour battery in SV and SL trim levels (versus the previous 24-kWh battery, which remains in the base Leaf S trim)–debuted in Canada on October 2.
The coming months will tell us whether the company will benefit from a more diversified product offering with a longer-range option before the arrival of the second-generation Leaf in a year or two.
Plug-in electric car sales in Canada, September 2015
The Tesla Model S has paced Canadian plug-in electric vehicle sales in the final month of the last four quarters (and several months in between), and there’s every reason to believe it led the pack again in September.
Judging by registration data, August saw 157 new Teslas roll onto Canadian roads, just off the Chevy Volt’s pace, and up from the 148 in July.
BMW sold 50 i-series vehicles in September, about level with August. The registration data is needed to distinguish between i3 and i8 sales, which have run in a roughly 3:2 ratio in recent months.
As for the i3 REx and EV options, two-thirds of Canadian purchasers this year have chosen the former. The two versions sold equally well last year.
Moving on to the lower-volume automakers, Mitsubishi sold 6 i-MiEVs, and Cadillac delivered one more ELR.
Kia Soul EV at Granville Island, British Columbia, Canada
As usual, their manufacturers refuse to provide sales figures for the Toyota Prius Plug-in, Ford C-Max Energi, and Ford Fusion Energi plug-in hybrids.
Quoting a representative from Ford: “I have looked into this and unfortunately we are not inclined to provide this level of detail for Canada. The numbers are very small, as you might imagine.”
August registration data
Mercedes sold 65 Smart Electric Drives in Canada in August, up from 50 in July and topping 1,000 cumulative Canadian sales.
Kia also enjoyed a strong August, selling 46 electric Souls to follow up on its spectacular July (in which it shifted 62 Soul EVs, one more than in the first half of the year).
Smart Electric Drive, University of British Columbia campus, Vancouver [photo: Matthew Klippenstein]
Ford also sold another half-dozen Focus Electrics.
The province of Quebec continues to extend its leadership in the Canadian plug-in electric vehicle space, having become a founding member of the International ZEV Alliance.
And prominent regional restaurant chain Les Rôtisseries St-Hubert–which had already placed charging stations at 23 locations–recently announced a partnership with Nissan Canada and The Electric Circuit public charging network to install DC fast chargers at 10 additional restaurants around the province.
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