Alberta has lower percentage of EV ownership than national rate

Alberta households rank in the lower tier when it comes to electric vehicle ownership in Canada, according to the most recently available data from Statistics Canada.

In 2021, three per cent of households in the province owned an electric or hybrid vehicle, compared to the national average of five per cent. 

The data, collected through the biannual Households and the Environment Survey, shows 94 per cent of Alberta households still favour gas or diesel powered vehicles. Nationally, just under 89 per cent of households have a vehicle with a combustion engine. 

This was the first year the survey has collected data on EV and hybrid ownership, said Gordon Dewis, a data analyst with the environment accounts and statistics division. He said EV technology is still relatively new, so seeing lower numbers in Alberta isn't surprising.

"In the early days of new technology being adopted, it's not unusual to see very low numbers," Dewis said. "Because it's just one cycle, you can't really draw any conclusions from that."

EV and hybrid vehicle registration rising 

Motorized vehicle registration data from March shows electric and hybrid vehicles are on the rise in Alberta. Around 14,000 EVs were registered in 2024, up from just over 9,300 the year before. 

Hybrid vehicles especially are seeing a surge, said Rajko Pavic, manager and EV expert with GoElectric Vehicle Corporation. 

"Right now, the growth category that's the biggest is hybrids, and that's the people that used to be buying gas cars," Pavic said. 

Pavic adds that within the last four years, they've seen a 58 per cent growth in EV sales. While that growth is a positive sign, he said Alberta is still farther behind provinces like B.C. and Quebec.

"Growth numbers are pretty much the same between Alberta and B.C. and Quebec … but it's just you started with a lot higher numbers from B.C. and Quebec," Pavic said.

Last year, Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault introduced the federal government's plan to phase out the sale of new passenger vehicles using internal combustion engines by 2035. 

Fewer households with EVs in Alberta puts a damper on that goal, said Sarah McBain, a senior analyst with the Pembina Institute.

"Those lower adoption numbers that we see in Alberta do make reaching those overall targets for Canada more challenging," she said. 

EV incentives are different

EV enthusiasm is higher in British Columbia and Quebec, with nine and six per cent, respectively, of households owning an EV or hybrid vehicle. 

Both provinces have rebates for purchasing an EV. In B.C., residents can receive between $500 and $2,000 on an EV or plug-in hybrid, while Quebec offers up to $7,000 when purchasing or leasing a new EV.

Alberta, on the other hand, doesn't have provincial incentives, instead offering the federal government's Incentive for Zero Emission Vehicles (iZEV) Program, where residents can receive up to $5,000 on a new EV. 

Andrew Bell, director of the Electric Vehicle Association of Alberta, said this could be part of the reason why there are fewer EV owners in Alberta compared to B.C.

"Their provincial utility is a great champion of electric vehicle adoption," Bell said. "It's a little bit different scenario in Alberta."

But a provincial $200 tax for registering an electric vehicle, set to come into effect in January 2025, could also put people off, Bell said.

"We kind of see it as a clean air tax, as it were," Bell said. "Here we are, we're trying to do the right thing of reducing our household emissions and we feel we're being penalized for that."

Not as many charging stations

McBain said another factor that could lead to lower uptake of EVs is the lack of public charging stations in Alberta. 

According to Natural Resources Canada, Alberta has 1,576 EV charging ports. By contrast, B.C. has more than 5,600 and Quebec has over 10,000.

"Public charging infrastructure is incredibly important, but also ensuring there's access to charging at home is really essential," McBain said. "Specifically, making sure that those who live in multi-unit residential buildings have access to charging is really important at this stage."

Dewis said while there are not yet enough people with pure EVs or plug-in hybrids to know how many Alberta residences have charging stations, over four in five Canadian households with a chargeable vehicle have a charging station.

There are two types of residential charging stations: Level 1 and Level 2. The former uses less voltage and provides 200 kilometres of range in 20 hours. The latter is faster, providing 30 kilometres of range in an hour.

He adds they've added more questions about charging habits to the 2023 survey, which they're currently collecting data for. Specifically, they want to know more about how people without charging stations are powering their vehicles. 

"About 20 per cent of households, roughly, that had some sort of electric vehicle that was chargeable didn't have a charging station. So where are they charging?" Dewis said. "In the 2023 cycle when the data are out … we will be able to report on that."