Although new motor vehicle sales dropped for February, according to Statistics Canada’s latest report released Thursday, zero-emission vehicles (ZEV) have taken a larger piece of the pie of all sales compared to this time last year. There were just over 124-thousand new motor vehicles sold in Canada in February, down nearly one per cent compared to the same month last year. Sales of new passenger cars fell nearly four per cent, while sales of new trucks saw a smaller decline at half a percentage point. In the same month, 12,626 new ZEVs were sold. That’s an increase of just over 47 per cent from February of 2025. New ZEVs, which are categorized as battery electric or plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, also comprised just over ten per cent of total new motor vehicles sold, an increase of more than three per cent from one year earlier. In mid-February, the federal government began the Electric Vehicle Affordability Program – which could return as much as $5,000 to consumers for purchasing battery electric vehicles. Transports Canada put out a full list of vehicles eligible under the five-year, $2.3-billion EV affordability program, with the incentives dependent on the duration of the lease. They are also designed to decrease over the five years by $1,000 each year. The rebates are only available for vehicles imported from a country that has a pre-existing free-trade deal with Canada and cost less than $50,000. “Late last year, the second half was kind of low sales – but now you’re seeing an uptick again,” said Devin Arthur, director of government relations with Electric Vehicle Society, in a Zoom interview with CTV News Thursday. “I think a lot of those affordability issues, and now the incentive coming back, I think all that’s coming to play with more increased EV sales.”